International Environmental Management Standards as a Tool of Legal Business Regulation

Abstract

The article is devoted to the problem of determining the boundaries of normative regulation of a green economy, sustainable development, balance between the need to preserve nature and economic activity. The research is based on methods: dialectical, economic-statistical, comparative-legal, empirical, expert assessment, monographic description. The role of the system of international standards for achieving sustainable development goals, its importance, and significance for improving the system of relevant international mechanisms and instruments of environmental legal regulation has been substantiated. A review of the mechanisms of environmental standardization is carried out. The authors consider issues of sustainable development; defining the boundaries of regulatory regulation of the green economy; finding a balance between the need to preserve nature, economic activity; integration of sustainable development principles into the policies of nation-states; the importance of the environmental standardization system for business as well. The international standards of the ISO 14000 family and their use in modern corporate practice are analyzed. It is required to integrate the principles of sustainable development into the policies of national states and the introduction of universal environmental standards that combine the best elements of various national norms. All these issues have become more relevant during the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, as, due to the ensuing economic crisis, states postponed the introduction of new, more stringent environmental standards, which could require significant financial costs to modernize industrial production.