The purpose of the work is to assess the scope of action of international environmental standards, focusing on existing gaps, including in the light of the parallel evolution of bilateral and multilateral international cooperation in the field of environmental protection. Research methods. An integrated approach is applied, including the logical generalization, collection, systematization and analysis of actual data; methods of system analysis. Results. In this article recent advances in international environmental law are summarized and provisions, concepts, analytical tools, and key issues used to achieve environmental goals are studied. The analysis was conducted by logical generalization and proved that application of international environmental law remains a topical issue both at the national and international levels. In many countries, national application is constrained by the lack of appropriate national legislation, financial resources, environmentally sound technologies and institutional capacity. National application can be improved by increasing the relevance of environmental considerations in other sectors and increasing participation of non-state actors in decision making and application. Scientific novelty consists in the author’s approach to determining the priority directions for optimizing the application of international law in the field of environmental protection, the use of regulatory combinations, economic, voluntary and informational instruments is required, while a set of policy measures is determined on the basis of available data on cost effectiveness. Practical significance is that scientific research clearly, accessibly and consistently demonstrates the imperative for complex regulatory regimes with more flexible and dynamic standards-setting processes, necessitating a pragmatic and forward-looking approach.