ABSTRACT
This chapter analyses the conditions in both the US and Europe that led to this quiet transfer of global leadership. The chapter is based on the author's close observation of climate policy over the past 20 years while at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the European University Institute (EUI). In Durban, the analogous dramatic moment was that of the EU Commissioner for Climate Action, Connie Hedegaard, huddled with a recalcitrant Indian head of delegation, cajoling her to sign up to a new global climate governance framework while the US delegate benignly watched. The transfer of leadership in global climate policy is more profound than the symbolism just noted and it did not result from any contest between the parties. The US effectively abdicated its leadership role and the EU has assumed leadership more by default than by its own assertion of that role.
