The European Union’s Performance in the International Climate Change Regime

The performance of the European Union (EU) in international climate policy improved significantly over much of the 1990s and 2000s with respect to goal achievement (effectiveness) and relevance. However, the failure of the Copenhagen Summit in 2009 represented a major backlash for the EU. This article argues that internal factors – including in particular the development of internal climate policy – have mostly enhanced the EU’s performance conditions, but can hardly account for the Copenhagen backlash. In contrast, situational and structural changes in the international configuration of climate politics first supported and then significantly impeded a good EU performance in the 2000s.

Overall, distinguishing systematically between EU internal factors that are under the direct control of the EU itself and external conditions on which EU influence is more limited allows us to identify the evolution of the external political ‘environment’ of international EU leadership on climate change, and the failure of the EU to adapt its strategy timely to this evolving environment, as major forces underlying the Copenhagen backlash.

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