The EU’s International Climate Policy and Transatlantic Relations

Artur Runge-Metzger (European Commission)

 

 

 

 

About the lecture
Global climate change can only be tackled at the international level. The European Union and the United States both carry a major historic responsibility in terms of cumulative greenhouse gas emissions since the beginning of the industrial revolution. Thus, since the early 90’s the EU and the US have played prominent roles in developing solutions to this global challenge and in the international negotiations on climate change. Both negotiated and signed the UN Convention on Climate Change, the Kyoto Protocol and the Paris Agreement. Most recently, both announced to reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. However, both have pursued quite different domestic policy approaches. While the EU has been a rather reliable international partner, the record of US engagement and implementation of the international climate agreements has been rather mixed. It strongly depended on the political will of the actual administration in Washington. What unites and what divides the two players? How did climate change feature in the transatlantic relationship over the past decades? How does the rise of China as an economic and geopolitical power influence the respective roles of the EU and the US? What promises do transatlantic relations hold for international climate change policy in the coming years?

Research focus »Democratic Vistas: Reflections on the Atlantic World«
The lecture is part of the research focus »Democratic Vistas. Reflections on the Atlantic World«, hosted by the Forschungskolleg Humanwissenschaften. The interdisciplinary group of Goethe University scholars and international and regional affiliates addresses the potentials and limits of Atlantic cooperation with regard to the future of democracy from various perspectives and disciplines. Heads of program: Johannes Voelz, Professor of American Studies, Goethe University, and Gunther Hellmann, Professor of Political Science, Goethe University.

Contact
Iris Helene Koban, managing director of the Forschungskolleg Humanwissenschaften (i.koban@forschungskolleg-humanwissenschaften.de)