EU’s key role

THERE is no other problem that tests the ability of countries to co-operate like climate change. For the EU, it is also a test of the ability to act cohesively in the world.

Europe has long been a leader in the international diplomacy of climate change. The Paris Agreement of 2015 is in part a result of EU leadership. But now, as the US under Donald Trump abandons the Paris Agreement, denies the reality of climate change and behaves with unprecedented hostility towards EU partners, the EU’s share of the load grows correspondingly heavier.

To examine how the EU could use diplomacy to strengthen climate action globally, climate negotiators from the European Commission and member states met with academic experts on climate politics, policy and law.

The outcomes of this collective project highlight a number of key messages, such as the unique capacity of the EU to influence international outcomes.

This includes EU member states leveraging their relationships with countries and communities around the world. But the EU can only take advantage of these strengths when member states give it the mandate to act ambitiously and in unison.

Implementation must be robust. For the EU, relations with neighbours like the Western Balkans and the broader Mediterranean also provide opportunities to enhance co-operation on climate change.

Bilateral relations are vital. For example, at the same time that the EU finds common ground with China to preserve the Paris Agreement, it must also promote climate action through an often challenging bilateral economic relationship.

It is not simply a case of retrofitting economies with less polluting energy sources and shoring up defences against the effects of climate change. Rather, an effective response to climate change entails a whole-ofeconomy transformation.

This necessitates political decision-making and a political vision of the destination.

The social element is fundamental to this, because a community consensus for strong climate action depends on prioritising socially just outcomes for workers, communities and regions.

At this critical time, with climate change increasingly urgent and with reactionary, anti-science forces threatening processes of co-operation, the EU can reassert the common values and aspirations that Europeans share.

At the same time, an accelerated climate transition would bring material benefits, such as reduced pollution, lower dependence on energy imports and the ability of more households to independently produce and consume renewable energy.