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1 - Climate change policy in the European Union: an introduction

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 August 2011

By
Andrew Jordan ,
Dave Huitema  and
Harro van Asselt
Edited by
Andrew Jordan ,
Dave Huitema ,
Harro van Asselt ,
Tim Rayner  and
Frans Berkhout
Andrew Jordan
Affiliation:
University of East Anglia, Norwich, United Kingdom
Dave Huitema
Affiliation:
Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, the Netherlands
Harro van Asselt
Affiliation:
Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, the Netherlands
Andrew Jordan
Affiliation:
University of East Anglia
Dave Huitema
Affiliation:
Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam
Harro van Asselt
Affiliation:
Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam
Tim Rayner
Affiliation:
University of East Anglia
Frans Berkhout
Affiliation:
Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam
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Summary

Introduction: climate change enters the political mainstream

In recent years, climate change has shifted from being a marginal political issue to one that has – depending on one's point of view – potentially transformative and/or calamitous consequences for virtually all policy areas. The change in its political status has been remarkably rapid but also substantial. So when the global economy slipped into a deep recession in the late 2000s, climate change remained alongside economic growth, employment and crime as a key political issue in the majority of industrialised states. As part of this political transformation, new actors have entered the debate. Whereas before, climate change had mainly preoccupied environmental ministries and their associated policy networks, it now attracts the sustained attention of political core executives: prime ministers, presidents and their inner cabinets. Since 2005, climate change has been a standing item at all G8 summits, and has been regularly debated at United Nations (UN) General Assembly sessions and in countless European Council meetings comprising the Heads of State of the European Union (EU). The issue of climate change has, in short, entered the political mainstream.

Having struggled for years to persuade politicians to take the issue seriously, environmental actors are now finding themselves under intense pressure to deliver policy solutions that are sufficiently coordinated with their counterparts in ‘non-’ environmental sectors such as energy, transport and agriculture.

Information

Type
Chapter
Information
Climate Change Policy in the European Union
Confronting the Dilemmas of Mitigation and Adaptation?
 , pp. 3 - 26
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2010

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