The Nature Restoration Law (NRL) provides a significant opportunity to address the biodiversity crisis in the European Union (EU). However, considering the poor implementation of EU nature protection legislation in the last decades, litigation will likely be necessary to ensure the NRL delivers. Further, the cross‐cutting nature of the NRL seems to facilitate more systemic biodiversity litigation. This paper therefore provides an overview of key elements in the national restoration plans (NRPs) for the successful implementation of the NRL that could also be challenged in national litigation should the NRPs fail to live up to the requirements of the NRL. These relate to the quantification of the target areas to be restored, the cross‐cutting requirements of the plans, the use of derogations, and the adequacy of the restoration measures.
Laura Hildt (Mon,) studied this question.