Brief Description
Perspective on the EU's ability to maintain a leading position in climate change politics, and challenges of mitigation and adaptation.
Learn More about the Book
The European Union (EU) has emerged as a leading governing body in the international struggle to govern climate change. The transformation that has occurred in its policies and institutions has profoundly affected climate change politics at the international level and within its 27 Member States. But how has this been achieved when the EU comprises so many levels of governance, when political leadership in Europe is so dispersed and the policy choices are especially difficult? Drawing on a variety of detailed case studies spanning the interlinked challenges of mitigation and adaptation, this volume offers an unrivalled account of how different actors wrestled with the complex governance dilemmas associated with climate policy making. Opening up the EU's inner workings to non-specialists, it provides a perspective on the way that the EU governs, as well as exploring its ability to maintain a leading position in international climate change politics.
Review Quotes
1. '[A] timely, conceptually rich and policy relevant contribution to the understanding of EU climate politics. [T]his book makes a major contribution to understanding climate politics in the EU and beyond, and is an essential read for politicians and academics involved in climate policy' - Journal of Integrative Environmental Sciences
2. ."..the authors skillfully weave a tapestry of dilemmas to bring home the stark and painfully obvious truth that actions to combat climate change are rendered impotent by competing domestic and international political interests...this book as a critical comment on the effectiveness of supranational legislation when it comes to the environment." - Glenys Spence, ACUNS May 2013
3. Surveying the role of the European Union in relation to climate change policy is no easy task How successful or otherwise the EU might be in this endeavour has a resonance across the world. This book provides an invaluable resource for anyone seeking to assess the possibilities and the pitfalls. - From the Foreword by Professor Lord Anthony Giddens, London School of Economics and Political Science"
4. The book will be of great interest not only to those interested in the future of the climate regime but also to those concerned with the future of the European Union more generally. - Professor Oran R. Young, Bren School of Environmental Science and Management, University of California, Santa Barbara"
5. This book is a must read for students and practitioners wishing to understand EU climate policy. - Professor Miranda Schreurs, Director, Environmental Policy Research Centre, Freie Universitat Berlin"
6. '[A] unique overview and analysis [of] the complexity of EU climate change policy succeeds in delivering a vast amount of information, explanation and ideas to reflect upon in future research and policy making' - European Energy and Environmental Law Review"
7. "The book is valuable on several levels. It provides detailed insight into the development of EU policy in relation to climate change, and the framing in terms of the dilemmas that climate change presents to policy is profound. To quote from the final remarks, It is only by engaging in difficult policy decisions and confronting complex governance dilemmas that societies will come to appreciate what is really at stake and take the necessary steps to govern the environment more sustainably. What an honest assessment of the difficult challenges ahead!" - Eos"
8. remarkably cohesive across its collection of edited chapters, [it] offers most valuable reading all law under- and post-graduates (of all sub-disciplinary persuasions) [should] be confronted by the ideas offered - Journal of Environmental Law, 2011, 23, 3, 537-541"
9. a comprehensive institutional history of climate policy within the European Union [using].. a remarkably coherent conceptual framework . The presentation of empirical insights is remarkably accessible for a book dealing specifically with EU institutions - Global Environmental Politics, 2012, 12, 2, 111"
10. ..".the authors skillfully weave a tapestry of dilemmas to bring home the stark and painfully obvious truth that actions to combat climate change are rendered impotent by competing domestic and international political interests...this book as a critical comment on the effectiveness of supranational legislation when it comes to the environment." - Glenys Spence, ACUNS May 2013"
