The European Union’s environmental foreign policy: from planning to a strategy?
- 35 Downloads
Abstract
In the early twenty-first century, environmental matters have become subject to high politics, tackled in complex global contexts. In such contexts, effectively dealing with environmental challenges requires a geopolitically informed environmental foreign policy strategy. This article examines whether, to what extent and for what reasons the European Union, with its highly developed internal environmental regime and its ambition to lead global environmental politics, possesses such a strategy. It argues that the EU has for a long time pursued a leadership-by-example approach, characterized by attributes of planning rather than a strategy, but that signs of change can nowadays be detected notably in the area of climate change. Drawing on insights from pragmatist reasoning, the article concludes by suggesting how the EU’s environmental foreign policy could develop further strategically.
Keywords
Environment Environmental foreign policy European Union Strategic studies StrategyNotes
Acknowledgements
The author would like to thank the participants of the workshop on ‘Geopolitics and Strategic Thinking in EU Foreign Policy’ at the European Workshops in International Studies (EWIS), Tübingen, 6–8 April 2016, in particular Cristian Nitoiu, Monika Sus and Neil Winn, as well as the two anonymous reviewers for their highly useful and constructive comments on earlier drafts of this article.
References
- Afionis, S. 2017. The European Union in International Climate Change Negotiations. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
- Axelrod, R., and M. Schreurs. 2014. Environmental Policy Making and Global Leadership in the European Union. In The Global Environment: Institutions, Law, and Policy. 4th ed, ed. R. Axelrod and S. VanDeveer, 157–186. Washington: CQ Press.Google Scholar
- Belis, D., S. Schunz, T. Wang, and D. Jayaram. 2017. Climate Change Diplomacy and the Rise of ‘Multiple Bilateralism’ Between China, India and the EU. Unpublished Manuscript.Google Scholar
- Bernstein, R. 2005. The Abuse of Evil, The Corruption of Politics and Religion since 9/11. Cambridge: Polity Press.Google Scholar
- Bicchi, F. 2006. Our Size Fits All. Normative Power Europe and the Mediterranean. Journal of European Public Policy 13(2): 286–303.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Biedenkopf, K. 2016. The EU in Global Chemicals Governance. In The European Union’s Foreign Policy in Comparative Perspective: Beyond the ‘Actorness and Power’ Debate, ed. I. Peters, 61–79. Abingdon: Routledge.Google Scholar
- Biedenkopf, K., and D.J. Park. 2012. A Toxic Issue? Leadership in Comprehensive Chemicals Management. In Environmental Leadership: A Reference Handbook. SAGE Reference Series on Leadership, ed. D. Rigling Gallagher, 782–791. London: SAGE Publications.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Biermann, F., and P. Pattberg. 2012. Global Environmental Governance Revisited. In Global Environmental Governance Reconsidered, ed. F. Biermann and P. Pattberg, 1–24. Cambridge: MIT Press.Google Scholar
- Birchfield, V. 2015. Coercion with Kid Gloves? The European Union‘s Role in Shaping a Global Regulatory Framework for Aviation Emissions. Journal of European Public Policy 22(9): 1276–1294.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Börzel, T., and T. Risse. 2012. From Europeanisation to Diffusion: Introduction. West European Politics 35(1): 1–19.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Brauch, H.-G. 2009. Securitizing Global Environmental Change. In Facing Global Environmental Change: Environmental, Human, Energy, Food, Health and Water Security Concepts, ed. H.-G. Brauch, et al., 65–102. Berlin: Springer.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Braun, M. 2014. Europeanization of Environmental Policy in the New Europe. Farnham: Ashgate.Google Scholar
- Buzogany, A. 2013. Convergence à la carte. Selective Adoption of EU Norms in the EU Neighbourhood. Europe-Asia Studies 65(4): 609–630.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Carpenter, A. 2012. The EU and Marine Environmental Policy: A Leader in Protecting the Marine Environment. Journal of Contemporary European Research 8(2): 248–267.Google Scholar
- Costa, O. 2010. Convergence on the Fringe: The Environmental Dimension of Euro-Mediterranean Cooperation. Mediterranean Politics 15(2): 149–168.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Costa, O. 2016. Beijing After Kyoto? The EU and the New Climate in Climate Negotiations. In EU Policy Responses to a Shifting Multilateral System, ed. E. Barbé, O. Costa, and R. Kissack, 115–134. Houndmills: Palgrave MacMillan.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Damro, C. 2012. Market Power Europe. Journal of European Public Policy 19(5): 682–699.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Damro, C., and E. Ibáñez. 2018. EU External Engagement in Areas with Long-Standing Internal Policies—Single Market, Competition Policy and Environmental Policy. In The EU’s Evolving External Engagement—Towards New Sectoral Diplomacies?, ed. C. Damro, S. Gstöhl, and S. Schunz, 37–65. Abingdon: Routledge.Google Scholar
- Delreux, T. 2014a. EU Actorness, Cohesiveness and Effectiveness in Environmental Affairs. Journal of European Public Policy 21(7): 1017–1032.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Delreux, T. 2014b. The EU and Multilateralism in the Environmental Field: UNEP Reform and External Representation in Environmental Negotiations. In The EU and Effective Multilateralism: External and Internal Reform in the First Decade, ed. E. Drieskens and L. Van Schaik, 66–83. Abingdon: Routledge.Google Scholar
- Emiliani, T., and A. Linck. 2018. The External Dimension of EU Immigration Policies: Reacting to External Events? In The EU’s Evolving External Engagement—Towards New Sectoral Diplomacies?, ed. C. Damro, S. Gstöhl, and S. Schunz, 126–149. Abingdon: Routledge.Google Scholar
- European Commission and European External Action Service. 2015. Action Plan for Climate Diplomacy: From Lima to Paris: Climate Diplomacy in 2015. Brussels, January.Google Scholar
- European Commission and High Representative of the Union for Foreign and Security Policy. 2015. Review of the European neighbourhood policy. Brussels, 18 November.Google Scholar
- European Council. 1988. Conclusions. Rhodes, 2–3 December.Google Scholar
- European External Action Service. 2016. Shared Vision, Common Action: A Stronger Europe—A Global Strategy for the European Union’s Foreign and Security Policy. Brussels, June.Google Scholar
- Fajardo del Castillo, T. 2010. Revisiting the External Dimension of the Environmental Policy of the European Union: Some Challenges Ahead. Journal for European Environmental & Planning Law 7(4): 365–390.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Goldthau, A., and S. Sitter. 2014. A Liberal Actor in a Realist World? The Commission and the External Dimension of the Single Market for Energy. Journal of European Public Policy 21(7): 1452–1472.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Gstöhl, S., and D. Hanf. 2014. The EU’s Post-Lisbon Free Trade Agreements: Commercial Interests in a Changing Constitutional Context. European Law Journal 20(6): 733–748.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Harris, P.G. (ed.). 2009. Environmental Change and Foreign Policy, Theory and Practice. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
- Hayes, J., and J. Knox-Hayes. 2014. Security in Climate Change Discourse: Analyzing the Divergence Between US and EU Approaches to Policy. Global Environmental Politics 14(2): 82–101.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO). 2017. CORSIA Website. https://www.icao.int/environmental-protection/Pages/market-based-measures.aspx. Accessed 1 June 2017.
- Interview 1: Climate Negotiator from a Large EU Member State, 24 February 2010.Google Scholar
- Interview 2: Climate Negotiator from a Smaller EU Member State, 2 March 2010.Google Scholar
- Keukeleire, S., and T. Delreux. 2014. The Foreign Policy of the European Union. 2nd ed. Houndmills: Palgrave MacMillan.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Korosteleva, E., I. Merheim-Eyre, and E. Van Gils. 2017. ‘The Political’ and the ENP: Rethinking EU Relations with the Eastern Region. In Theorizing the European Neighbourhood Policy, ed. S. Gstöhl and S. Schunz, 226–243. Abingdon: Routledge.Google Scholar
- Lavenex, S. 2014. The Power of Functionalist Extension: How EU Rules Travel. Journal of European Public Policy 21(6): 885–903.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Manners, I. 2002. Normative Power Europe: A Contradiction in Terms? Journal of Common Market Studies 40(2): 235–258.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Marín Durán, G., and E. Morgera. 2012. Environmental Integration in the EU’s External Relations, Beyond Multilateral Dimensions. Oxford: Hart Publishing.Google Scholar
- Martel, W. 2015. Grand Strategy in Theory and Practice—The Need for an Effective American Foreign Policy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Morgera, E. 2012. The Trajectory of EU Biodiversity Cooperation: Supporting Environmental Multilateralism Through EU External Action. In The External Environmental Policy of the European Union, EU and International Law Perspectives, ed. E. Morgera, 235–260. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Oberthür, S., and L. Groen. 2017. The European Union and the Paris Agreement: Leader, Mediator, or Bystander? WIRES Climate Change 8: 1–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Oberthür, S., and F. Rabitz. 2014. On the EU’s Performance and Leadership in Global Environmental Governance: The Case of the Nagoya Protocol. Journal of European Public Policy 21(1): 39–57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Radosavljevic, Z. 2017. International Flights to Stay Free from EU Carbon Fees Until 2021, MEPs Vote. EURACTIV. 11 July. https://www.euractiv.com/section/air-pollution/news/international-flights-to-stay-free-from-eu-carbon-fees-until-2021-meps-vote/.
- Schunz, S. 2011. Beyond Leadership by Example: Towards a Flexible European Union Foreign Climate Policy. Berlin: German Institute for International and Security Studies.Google Scholar
- Schunz, S. 2014. European Union Foreign Policy and the Global Climate Regime. Brussels: Peter Lang.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Schunz, S., S. Gstöhl, and C. Damro. 2018. Analytical Framework: Understanding and Explaining EU External Engagement. In The EU’s Evolving External Engagement—Towards New Sectoral Diplomacies?, ed. C. Damro, S. Gstöhl, and S. Schunz, 15–33. Abingdon: Routledge.Google Scholar
- Torney, D. 2013. European Climate Diplomacy: Building Capacity for External Action. Helsinki: The Finnish Institute of International Affairs.Google Scholar
- Torney, D. 2015. European Climate Leadership in Question: Policies toward China and India. Cambridge: MIT Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- US Joint Staff. 2004. Joint Publication 1-02, Department of Defense Dictionary and Associated Terms. Washington, DC: US Joint Staff.Google Scholar
- Van Schaik, L., and S. Schunz. 2012. Explaining EU Activism and Impact in Global Climate Politics: Is the Union a Norm- or Interest-Driven Actor? Journal of Common Market Studies 50(1): 169–186.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Vogler, J., and H. Stephan. 2007. The European Union in global environmental governance: Leadership in the making? International Environmental Agreements 7(3): 389–413.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Yarger, H.R. 2006. Strategic Theory for the 21st Century: The Little Book on Big Strategy. Carlisle: Strategic Studies Institute.Google Scholar
- Zito, A. 2005. The European Union as an Environmental Leader in a Global Environment. Globalizations 2(3): 363–375.CrossRefGoogle Scholar