EU and UN Action on Climate Diplomacy – The Year Ahead

23 January 2019 - Foundation for European Progressive Studies, Brussels

Climate change and its effects are already proving to be a threat to international security. Extreme consequences are already affecting many people’s livelihoods and biodiversity on the planet.

With key multilateral processes being threatened by various international developments, climate diplomacy needs to be given an even stronger role within foreign and security policy. Therefore this workshop aimed to look at how the EU can continue to strengthen its climate diplomacy potential in the current international climate.

Speakers included:

Anne Bergenfelt, Senior Advisor, DG Climate Action, European Commission and
Pascal Delisle, Adviser on Climate Change, Global affairs, European External Action Service
Kamiel Mesie, Associate Political Affairs Officer, UN Liaison Office for Peace and Security
Luisa Rölke, Head of Division Environment and Building, Counsellor, Permanent Representation of Germany to the European Union

The meeting also included presentations of two recent publications:

The Think 2030 paper on "Reinforcing Environmental Dimensions of European Foreign and Security Policy" by Johanna Nyman, Policy Analyst, Institute for European Environmental Policy (IEEP)

The book on "EU Climate Diplomacy: Politics, Law and Negotiations" by by Stephen Minas, Assistant Professor, School of Transnational Law, Peking University, China, and Senior Research Fellow, Transnational Law Institute, King’s College London, UK

Key questions addressed in the discussion included:

What are the environmental dimensions of EU foreign policy? How can they be reinforced?
What are the recent and forthcoming policy developments in EU and UN climate diplomacy policy and action?
What are the opportunities to scale-up more foreign policy action in relation to addressing climate change?
What are the main expected challenges?
What role can progressives play in forthcoming developments?
What new opportunities are emerging for BDCD participating organisations to work together in the year ahead to help advance climate diplomacy policy and practice?

The meeting was organised for the Brussels Dialogue on Climate Diplomacy (BDCD) by EDRC and the European Foundation for Progressive Studies (FEPS) with the support of the European Parliament and the Federal Foreign Office of Germany.