ABSTRACT
This chapter analyses the role of the Council of Environment Ministers (the Council) and the European Council in the evolution of EU leadership in international climate policy. It focuses on two dimensions of environmental leadership. First, we explore the role of the Council and European Council in the international climate negotiations since the early 1990s. Second, we review the role of the Council and European Council in the evolution of domestic EU climate policy because credible international leadership requires appropriate domestic measures (‘leadership by example’) (see also Gupta and Grubb 2000; Vogler 2005). Overall, we argue that the Council and the European Council have been crucial in developing the international leadership record of the EU on climate change. Through them, the EU became a main pusher in international climate policy from the outset, but they have also been mainly responsible for the symbolic character of this leadership during the 1990s. In particular, insuffi cient internal climate policies during this period created the ‘capabilityexpectations gap’ well known in other policy areas (Hill 1993). In addition, problems of external policy coordination have continually plagued EU aspirations for international leadership on climate change. The Council and the European Council played crucial roles in improving the EU’s leadership record on both fronts in the 2000s – although important challenges remain (see also Oberthür and Roche Kelly 2008). The chapter proceeds in four main steps. First, the next section briefl y examines the roles of the Council and the European Council in the making of internal and external climate policies of the EU. Second, we analyse the evolving contribution of both councils to the EU’s international leadership record on climate change. Third, we analyse to what extent the Council and European Council have framed climate policy in terms of an opportunity for ecological modernisation over the years. Finally, we explore a number of internal and external factors that have contributed to the evolution of more credible EU international leadership in the 2000s. The fi nal section provides the major conclusions of the chapter.
