European Voice publishes op-ed “Climate diplomacy needs a revolution” by GG2020 fellows

On September 30, Global Governance 2020 fellows Thomas Hale and Tobias Leipprand published an opinion piece in European Voice, a weekly newspaper by the Economist Group. Under the headline Climate diplomacy needs a revolution, Hale and Leipprand argue that despite the EU’s efforts to put on a united front on the issue of climate change the Union will remain sidelined in further negotiations unless it radically transforms its climate diplomacy. Thomas Hale is a PhD candidate at Princeton University, and Tobias Leipprand is a researcher at Stiftung Neue Verantwortung. The Global Governance 2020 program is jointly organized by the Global Public Policy Institute, the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton University, Fudan University, the Hertie School of Governance, the Brookings Institution and the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences.

To transform the EU’s climate diplomacy, the authors argue, means to complement existing multilateral processes and state-to-state negotiations by a ​‘UN plus’ approach of supporting action-oriented networks formed by private firms, cities, regions, and civil society actors. ​“Some of the largest US states have committed themselves to reduce greenhouse gases, along with hundreds of municipalities,” Hale and Leipprand write. In China, ​“cities such as Beijing, Shanghai and Tianjin have created carbon exchanges where private firms can trade emissions permits.” By engaging and supporting such non- and sub-state actors into its own climate change diplomacy the EU can have a greater better impact in the system of climate change governance.

The authors offer specific steps on how this could be achieved. First, the EU should use its stature to rally local governments, industry and civil society around a common agenda toward the international negotiations. Second, the EU should encourage and support sub- and non-state actors from Europe to engage with their counterparts abroad in an effort to exchange knowledge and form partnerships to reduce emissions. Third, the EU should link its emissions trading scheme to regional and voluntary markets in the US, China and elsewhere. Finally, the EU should support voluntary efforts by firms around the world to reduce emissions by sponsoring a global self-regulatory and closely monitored emissions reduction scheme.