The EU in International Environmental Politics
Chad Damro
University of Edinburgh The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
PRIMARY QUESTIONS
To what extent has the EU overcome the obstacle of shared competence in UN environmental politics? How might the EU’s impact be magnified?
Internal Effectiveness
ERTA Decision (1971) Environmental Action Programmes Shared competence determines EU’s ability to…
Represent Union at international negotiations Sign and ratify agreements Implement domestic measures necessary to meet commitments
External Effectiveness
EU is signatory to over 60 MEAs EU’s relations with UN system via
UNEP CSD
EU’s ability to attain objectives and manage lengthy UN negotiations on climate change
EU Magnification I
Pursue compromise with AP6
Asia-Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate Australia, India, Japan, PRC, S. Korea, USA
Promote enviro objectives in IOs
UN agencies, G8, OECD
EU Magnification II
Link environmental issues to trade incentives
Inter-regional trade and bilateral agreements WTO’s Doha Round (MEAs and ecolabelling) WTO membership
EU Magnification III
Promote ‘global environmental governance’
Improve coordination among overlapping MEAs Upgrade UNEP
Lead by implementation example
ETS Success? ETS Crash? NAP negotiations
Conclusions
Some hope and cause for concern
EU seems to have overcome limitations of shared competence Still can be confusing to third parties Implementation issues/credibility? Role of US and AP6?
Watch for 2012…