The European Union and the Paris Agreement: leader, mediator, or bystander?

Abstract

After its defeat at the Copenhagen climate summit in 2009, the EU can be considered to have scored a relative success with the Paris Agreement adopted in December 2015. With the mitigation ambition of the agreement exceeding expectations, the EU realized its policy objectives to a greater extent than it may have anticipated itself. This success was made possible by a moderation of the EU’s policy objectives pursued proactively through an EU bridge‐building and coalition‐building strategy. It was enabled and facilitated by the great‐power politics between China and the US as well as the French Presidency of the Paris conference. With Paris, the EU thus appears to have consolidated its role as a ‘leadiator’ in international climate policy, which it took on after the failure of the Copenhagen conference and road‐tested for the first time in Durban in 2011. In a multipolar climate world, this new role model should remain relevant for the years to come. However, the unpredictability of the underlying internal and external political, economic, and technological dynamics suggests the wisdom of a regular review and adjustment of strategy. WIREs Clim Change 2017, 8:e445. doi: 10.1002/wcc.445 This article is categorized under: Policy and Governance > International Policy Framework

Spillover and dynamic effects of energy transition and economic growth on carbon dioxide emissions for the European Union: A dynamic spatial panel model

“…The EU is the pioneer in the combat of climate changes, it laid the foundation for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Changes (Wurzel & Connelly, 2011) and promulgated several climate and energy policies to decrease greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (Dupont & Oberthür, 2015). Moreover, the EU who formally approved the Paris Agreement serves as a leadiator (i.e., a leader and a mediator) on climate changes (Oberthür & Groen, 2017). Due to its continuous efforts, the GHG emissions of the EU reduced by 22% in 2016, compared to the counterpart in 1990 (European Environment Agency, 2018).…”

Targeting carbon dioxide removal in the European Union

“…The history of the international climate change negotiations suggests that the EU might be expected to take leadership in CDR development. Globally, the EU remains one of the largest emitters, EU member states carry a high degree of historical responsibility, and the EU praises itself for climate leadership in the international arena (Oberthür & Groen, 2017). But at the same time, there is currently little talk on CDR among EU climate policymakers, let alone meaningful action.…”

The Paris Agreement on Climate Change—Made in USA?

“…Several political actors have been credited with leadership during the Paris negotiations, including the EU, the High Ambition Coalition, the Latin American negotiation alliance AILAC (Edwards et al 2017) and non-state actors (Jacobs 2016; Hale 2016). Building on a growing EU climate leadership literature (e.g., Bäckstrand and Elgström 2013; Parker, Karlsson, and Hjerpe 2015), Oberthür and Groen (2017a, 2017b) argue that the EU facilitated the Paris Agreement and achieved most of its negotiation goals. Concomitantly, the authors acknowledge that the EU had to scale back its initial ambitions regarding mitigation, transparency and climate finance—three central negotiation issues.…”