EU Climate Change Policy: A Choice between Justice and Environmentalism?
EUROPEAN UNION'S SHAPING OF THE INTERNATIONAL LEGAL ORDER, Fabian Amtenbrink, Dimitry Kochenov, eds., CUP, 2013
Amsterdam Law School Research Paper No. 2012-102
Amsterdam Centre for European Law and Governance Research Paper No. 2012-06
25 Pages Posted: 3 Dec 2012 Last revised: 1 May 2015
Date Written: December 3, 2012
Abstract
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.
Keywords: EU law, external relations, climate change, Kyoto protocol, emission trading scheme, global leadership, justice
JEL Classification: K33
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation