Publication Name
EU Diplomacy Paper
Year of Publication
2021
Organization Name
College of Europe
Full Date
April 2021
Category
Reports
Theme
Subregion - European Union
Keyword(s)
EU’s strategic turn
climate diplomacy
multiple bilateralism
Abstract
Since the early 2010s, the climate diplomacy of the European Union (EU) has
undergone considerable changes. Traditionally relying on a ‘leadership-by-example’
approach primarily concerned with the external projection of its domestic policies, the
EU profoundly adapted its climate diplomacy strategy between the 2009 conference
of the parties (COP) 15 in Copenhagen and the 2015 Paris COP 21. This redefined
strategy was further consolidated in the aftermath of the Paris COP. Key features of
the EU’s redesigned climate diplomacy are its focus on stronger – cooperative and/or
confrontational – bilateral relations with major emitters and a greater flexibility in its
positions and actions. To better understand and explain this strategic turn, the paper
provides a comparative analysis of the EU’s climate diplomacy vis-à-vis the three
major emitters China, the United States and India during the negotiations on the
Copenhagen Accord (2005-2009), on the Paris Agreement (2010-2015) and on the
implementation of the Paris Agreement (2016-2020). It argues that the EU has
embraced a strategy of ‘multiple bilateralism’, which aims to develop parallel bilateral
relationships within the broader context of a multilateral negotiation setting. The
Union’s strategic turn can be explained by the opening of a policy window resulting
from the interplay between the changing geopolitics of climate change and
conducive institutional developments within the EU, which was exploited by EU policy
entrepreneurs. This turn enabled the EU to co-create a negotiation environment that
facilitated the convergence of major emitters’ positions in the global climate
negotiations at Paris. Sustaining such an enabling environment thus represents a
fundamental prerequisite for the successful implementation of the Paris Agreement.
undergone considerable changes. Traditionally relying on a ‘leadership-by-example’
approach primarily concerned with the external projection of its domestic policies, the
EU profoundly adapted its climate diplomacy strategy between the 2009 conference
of the parties (COP) 15 in Copenhagen and the 2015 Paris COP 21. This redefined
strategy was further consolidated in the aftermath of the Paris COP. Key features of
the EU’s redesigned climate diplomacy are its focus on stronger – cooperative and/or
confrontational – bilateral relations with major emitters and a greater flexibility in its
positions and actions. To better understand and explain this strategic turn, the paper
provides a comparative analysis of the EU’s climate diplomacy vis-à-vis the three
major emitters China, the United States and India during the negotiations on the
Copenhagen Accord (2005-2009), on the Paris Agreement (2010-2015) and on the
implementation of the Paris Agreement (2016-2020). It argues that the EU has
embraced a strategy of ‘multiple bilateralism’, which aims to develop parallel bilateral
relationships within the broader context of a multilateral negotiation setting. The
Union’s strategic turn can be explained by the opening of a policy window resulting
from the interplay between the changing geopolitics of climate change and
conducive institutional developments within the EU, which was exploited by EU policy
entrepreneurs. This turn enabled the EU to co-create a negotiation environment that
facilitated the convergence of major emitters’ positions in the global climate
negotiations at Paris. Sustaining such an enabling environment thus represents a
fundamental prerequisite for the successful implementation of the Paris Agreement.
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