‘“Damage” as defined in article 2(2) of Parliament and Council Directive 2004/35/EC on environmental liability was restricted to a deterioration in the environmental situation and did not, in addition, include the prevention of an existing, already damaged environmental state from achieving a level which was acceptable in environmental terms or a deceleration in such achievement.’
WLR Daily, 17th December 2015
Source: www.iclr.co.uk