EU cross-forum coherence on climate in international transport fora
(2021) EUDIPLO Doctoral Workshop The Law and Practice of EU Diplomacy in Regional and Global Organisations — Location: Online (19.November.2021)
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- As an established climate leader within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the European Union (EU) has in recent years turned a fresh gaze to climate action in the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and the International Maritime Organization (IMO). Through Council Conclusions and Climate Diplomacy Action Plans, the EU has declared a desire to work in both fora in a way wholly consistent with its approach to the UNFCCC. However, these two specialised UN transport organisations present significantly different institutional structures than the UNFCCC, which could thereby impact the EU’s ability to present a coherent climate policy in those fora. From the perspective of policy coherence, the paper answers the research question How do the institutional structures of ICAO and IMO affect the EU’s climate policy coherence in those fora? It looks at the cases of ICAO CORSIA (2016) and the IMO Initial Strategy (2018) – two political agreements on climate action adopted in the respective fora. Based on semi-structured interviews with EU, EU member state, and third state officials, the paper finds that the EU’s external action on climate in both fora was only somewhat coherent with its action in the UNFCCC. However, the two fora’s mandates to promote and defend their respective sectors, differing organisational culture, and state-based membership appeared to influence said coherence. The paper therefore provides insight into factors shaping EU climate action outside the UNFCCC, while also developing a detailed framework for assessing policy coherence at the international level.
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Earsom, J. (2021). EU cross-forum coherence on climate in international transport fora. EUDIPLO Doctoral Workshop The Law and Practice of EU Diplomacy in Regional and Global Organisations, Online. https://hdl.handle.net/2078.5/107782