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Climate Change and the European Union's Leadership Moment: An Inconvenient Truth?

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  • CHARLES F. PARKER
  • CHRISTER KARLSSON

Abstract

This article examines the nexus between the EU's goal of being a leading actor on the world stage in devising a global solution to the threat of climate change and the performance of its Member States in meeting their climate change obligations. In doing so the article will discuss the concept of EU leadership, examine the modes of leadership the EU has employed in pursuing its climate protection objectives, scrutinize the extent to which EU Member States are actually living up to their Kyoto obligations and analyse how the EU's own performance, credibility and legitimacy in this area affects its aspirations to be a key norm‐entrepreneur in the establishment of a post‐2012 climate change agreement. The article concludes with a balance sheet of some of the Union's key successes and failures and closes by highlighting some potentially inconvenient truths that might frustrate the EU's climate protection aspirations.

Suggested Citation

  • Charles F. Parker & Christer Karlsson, 2010. "Climate Change and the European Union's Leadership Moment: An Inconvenient Truth?," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 48(4), pages 923-943, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:jcmkts:v:48:y:2010:i:4:p:923-943
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1468-5965.2010.02080.x
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Joyeeta Gupta & Lasse Ringius, 2001. "The EU's Climate Leadership: Reconciling Ambition and Reality," International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 1(2), pages 281-299, April.
    2. Tora Skodvin & Steinar Andresen, 2006. "Leadership Revisited," Global Environmental Politics, MIT Press, vol. 6(3), pages 13-27, August.
    3. Young, Oran R., 1991. "Political leadership and regime formation: on the development of institutions in international society," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 45(3), pages 281-308, July.
    4. Jonas Tallberg, 2004. "The Power of the Presidency: Brokerage, Efficiency and Distribution in EU Negotiations," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 42(5), pages 999-1022, December.
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    Cited by:

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    2. Antonina Bakardjieva Engelbrekt & Moa Mårtensson & Lars Oxelheim & Thomas Persson, 2015. "The EU and global imbalances," Chapters, in: Antonina Bakardjieva Engelbrekt & Moa Mårtensson & Lars Oxelheim & Thomas Persson (ed.), The EU’s Role in Fighting Global Imbalances, chapter 1, pages 1-15, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    3. Hermann, Daniel & Sauthoff, Saramena & Mußhoff, Oliver, 2017. "Ex-ante evaluation of policy measures to enhance carbon sequestration in agricultural soils," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 140(C), pages 241-250.
    4. Charles F. Parker & Christer Karlsson, 2017. "The European Union as a global climate leader: confronting aspiration with evidence," International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 17(4), pages 445-461, August.
    5. Sauthoff, Saramena & Danne, Michael & Mußhoff, Oliver, 2017. "To switch or not to switch? – Understanding German consumers’ willingness to pay for green electricity tariff attributes," Department of Agricultural and Rural Development (DARE) Discussion Papers 260771, Georg-August-Universitaet Goettingen, Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development (DARE).
    6. Jon Birger Skjærseth, 2017. "The European Commission’s Shifting Climate Leadership," Global Environmental Politics, MIT Press, vol. 17(2), pages 84-104, May.
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    8. Charlotte Burns & Paul Tobin, 2020. "Crisis, Climate Change and Comitology: Policy Dismantling Via the Backdoor?," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 58(3), pages 527-544, May.

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