The Climate Policy of the European Union from the Framework Convention to the Paris Agreement (original) (raw)

European Union Law and the Challenges of Climate Changes

Zbornik radova Pravnog fakulteta u Nišu, 2018

The European Union is the party of key international documents dealing with the issue of climate changes: the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the Kyoto Protocol and the Paris Agreement. Moreover, the European Union has designed a rich legislative framework dedicated to the prevention of climate changes and the suppression of their negative consequences, including numerous decisions, directives, thematic strategies and action programmes. Their main purpose is to minimise and control the emissions of greenhouse gases, in order to contribute to the minimisation of pollution, increase of energy efficiency and the mitigation of negative consequences of climate changes. The reports on the implementation of the aforementioned documents confirm that the application of the measures prescribed by various sources of acquis in this field has given positive results in the European Union countries. However, they also show that climate changes still represent a serious challenge for the legislators as well as for all the other entities whose activities can contribute to this environmental phenomenon. Having in mind the fact that the Republic of Serbia is anticipating the opening of the Negotiation Chapter 27, dedicated to environment and climate changes, the author of this paper analyses relevant international documents of universal character signed by the European Union, sources of the European Union law that are significant for facing climate change as well as the reports on achieved results when it comes to combating climate change at the European Union level. The author also discusses international obligations of the Republic of Serbia in this area, its current progress in this field as well as the steps that our country has to take in the future in order to fulfil these obligations. Key words: European Union, climate changes, environment, ecology, environmental law.

Climate Change Policiesin the European Union

The Annals of “Dunarea de Jos” University of Galati. Fascicle IX, Metallurgy and Materials Science, 2018

This article aims to highlight European policies on climate change taking into account the objectives of the Paris Agreement which aim to keep the global temperature below 2 °C and reduce carbon emissions. Therefore, Member States shall take measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in order to achieve the objectives set. Presently, a particular emphasis is placed on mitigating climate change that is related to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, and therefore EU Member States have adopted national programs to reduce emissions. The EU Energy-Climate Framework of 2030 was presented by the Commission on 22 January 2014, it is an effective way of communication which establishes a framework for EU policies on climate and energy in 2020-2030. In addition to mitigation climate change, adaptation is also needed to identify appropriate solutions to the effects of climate change and taking the best possible measures to prevent or reduce the damage that they may cause, as well as to identify the appropriate measures to achieve the objectives. EU strategy on adaptation to climate change has the role of supporting funding and research for the development of national strategies in the Member States, but also other actions related to EU policies.

The global importance of EU climate policy: an introduction

Edward Elgar Publishing eBooks, 2023

The EU is one of the major emitters of greenhouse gases (GHGs) in the world, both historically and in terms of the situation prevailing in the 2020s. By international standards, its energy mix is relatively diverse, encompassing fossil fuels, nuclear power and renewables. While the shift towards a greater share of renewables progresses apace, fossil fuels are still reckoned to account for 72 per cent of its energy mix, compared with an 80 per cent share globally (IEA 2020). Recognizing this context, the EU has long tried to act as a leader in international climate policy, both in terms of shaping evolving international institutional arrangements and developing policies and measures to reduce its own emissions. Dating from the early 1990s, its climate-related policy activities have had enormous influence within its own borders and beyond, and over time have gradually expanded to encompass a widening range of economic sectors. Indeed, climate action now has quasi constitutional status in EU law. Although the EU's founding treaties do not explicitly define climate policy, Article 191(1) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) refers to combating climate change as one of the core objectives of its policy on protecting the environment (Stoczkiewicz 2018). In 2019, with much fanfare, climate change moved to the very top of the EU's legislative agenda when the European Commission launched proposals for a European Green Deal: a package of measures aiming to reduce net EU emissions to zero by mid-century, in the context of a wider set of environmental and social goals (European Commission 2019). Among the countries and organizations subscribing to the objective of 'climate neutrality' by the middle of the twenty-first century, the EU is nonetheless a rather distinctive actor, whose long-standing efforts to deliver decarbonization deserve particularly close attention. With 450 million citizens and a €14.5 trillion economy (European Union 2022), it is neither a sovereign state nor an international organization. The EU's efforts have been shaped by its characteristics as a complex multi-level institutional landscape, a supranational organization, and a set of 27 Member States of varying levels of wealth and economic size, with different and at times contradictory interests, visions, domestic political dynamics and willingness to act collectively. Although overall the EU is dependent on fossil fuel imports, especially for oil and gas (IEA 2020), some Member States host significant fossil fuel production and supply industries, underpinned by powerful vested interests. In others, the continuation of carbon-intensive economic sectors has powerful backers; in each case, climate policy is rendered economically and politically sensitive at national and EU levels. European ways of life, moreover, are heavily associated with per capita GHG emissions that, although gradually falling, continue to exceed the global average (IEA 2022). Nevertheless, in view of its economic and institutional strength, the EU can be looked upon as a rather benign 'critical case': 'if [it] cannot develop effective climate policies, then the implications for the globe are grim' (Wettestad 2000: 26).

Council of Europe Climate Law Standards and Perspectives

Climate Change: International Law and Global Governance, 2013

The Council of Europe (CoE) is an organisation which covers virtually the entire European continent and is anchored in the three pillars (or common values)-human rights, democracy, and the rule of law. It is famous for its developments regarding human rights protection and the promotion of democratic standards, and is focused mainly on actions aiming to protect and promote these three pillars. Nevertheless, its scope of interest is very wide and includes not only human rights protection, democracy-building and combating challenges to the rule of law, but also biodiversity protection, challenges to sports, and youth and culture issues. Among this variety of interests and activities are some which are linked-directly or indirectlywith the protection of the environment. In this article, selected case law related to the environment from the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) and from the European Committee of Social Rights (ECSR), as well as the official publications of the CoE in this field will be outlined, to demonstrate its contribution to the climate change debate. Attention will also be paid to various texts relating to the above subject matter and revealing the real level of commitment of the organisation and its entities to the subject matter, mainly by the Committee of Ministers (CM), the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities (CLRA), and the CoE Human Rights Commissioner. Apart from that, references to the attempts to systematise the internal actions of the CoE bodies in the above field by establishing the Inter-secretariat Group on Climate Change will be included, in order to answer the question of whether the organisation has developed its own set of climate law standards. Subsequently, prospects and possibilities that arise from present achievements will be commented on. One key observation is that the organisation acknowledges that climate change has become a very important issue and uses the environmental achievements it has already made to join the worldwide climate change de-449

EU Actions and Progresses in Terms of Climate Change and Energy Policies

This paper is in line with the pleadings in favor with the need of transposition into facts of the seductive speech of sustainable development; the focus is on the normative field. Being aware that implementing sustainable development, multidimensional concept, require a full arsenal of tools and policies, we focused on the environmental issue around whom political concerns excelled, from the beginning until now. In a global world, with a “common future”, sustainable development policy agendas are varied and, sometimes, contradictory. Accused of partiality, our approach gets concreteness by the fact that it regards these agendas from the point of view of European Union (EU).

EU Climate Change Policy: A Choice between Justice and Environmentalism?

The European Union actively shapes its environment. Climate change policy is a particularly illustrative example that the Union applies an active paradigm to protect the global environment both through internal and external actions. This paper examines the Union’s external action under the international climate change regime, as well as its creation of the European Emission Trading Scheme. It aims to identify evidence for the fact that under specific circumstances it can take a leading role in shaping the international legal order. Further, the paper addresses normative questions surrounding the Union as a climate change actor, and whether and in what way climate change action could contribute to finding a way out of the Union’s current Sinnkrise.

Climate Policy in European Union Politics

The Oxford Encyclopedia of European Union Politics, 2019

The fight against climate change has become a major area of action for the European Union (EU), both at the European and the international level. EU climate policy has gained importance since the 1990s and is today the most politicized issue on the EU's environmental agenda. The EU is often considered a frontrunner-even a leader-in the adoption of climate policies internally and the promotion of such policies externally. Internally, the EU has developed the world's most advanced and comprehensive regulatory frameworks, encompassing both EU-wide policies and targets to be achieved by the member states. The actual EU policy instruments fall into two categories: whereas emissions in certain industrial sectors are reduced through a carbon market and a "cap-and-trade" system (the Emissions Trading Scheme), emissions from nonETS sectors are addressed through domestic policies by member states. These measures have led to a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions in the EU, but they will not suffice to achieve the EU's long-term goals, which requires a major overhaul of some of the basic premises of the EU's policies in sectors such as energy production and consumption, transport, agriculture, and industry. Externally, the EU has been advocating ambitious and legally binding international climate agreements. Desiring to "lead by example", the EU has been an influential global climate player at important international climate

Climate change Law: from the Kyoto Protocol to present days and beyond

Proceedings of The 4th International Conference on Modern Approach in Humanities and Social Sciences, 2021

Climate change today occupies an important place in international politics as one of the strange phenomena happening to the environment and as one of the phenomena that can cause many problems if awareness and care are not increased. To properly assess climate change, one must also look at the legal aspect of international law, as this issue has a global character and affects all countries in their way. What has been done in legal terms is not enough, although there is an orientation towards improving the legal aspect by trying to create legal conditions to control climate change and not be allowed to go out of the projections that have been made by science. This research could help us understand how abovementioned agreements made a huge impact on creating a legal regulation and policies which tries to protect the environment and natural resources affected, endangered or impacted by human activities. In this research the topic bound to make a combination of methods and approaches th...