The European Union, together with all countries, is making a second effort to reach a
comprehensive global climate change agreement at the United Nations Climate Change
Conference (COP21 or CMP11) in Paris in December 2015, after the unsuccessful
attempt to do so in Copenhagen in 2009.
At a time when the EU is still preoccupied with recovery from the economic crisis, and is facing
geopolitical challenges and a number of conflicts, why should it see the importance of continuing to offer leadership in the field of climate change? And why would such an agreement be important for the EU? In short: “What’s in it for the EU?”
This commentary reviews the wider context of the negotiations, looking not only at the
geopolitical shifts that have taken place on the road to Paris, but also at the interests of the EU
both as far as its domestic climate policy is concerned, as well as its role as a diplomatic ‘soft
power’
