Plurilateral initiatives are again gaining importance in climate diplomacy as a complement to multilateral efforts – not least in view of the lack of progress in implementing the Paris Agreement and more difficult conditions in the UN process. New alliances are expected to facilitate agreement...

The economic and financial crisis of 2008 disrupted the European Union’s (EU) enlarge­ment policy for the Western Balkans. At least since that time, the region has seen greater involvement by economic actors from non-EU countries such as China, Russia, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates...

The European Union (EU) has been advocating climate policy ambitions from the very beginning of the international climate regime. Climate action to support the implementation of the Paris Agreement (2015) involves nearly all fields of national and international policy-making. In this research...

Since net zero targets have become a keystone of climate policy, more thought is being given to actively removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere while continuing to drastically reduce emissions. The ocean plays a major role in regulating the global climate by absorbing a large proportion of...

The outgoing European Commission has published its Communication on a 2040 climate target as its last major climate policy initiative before the 2024 European elections. By recommending a net emissions reduction target of 90 per cent compared to 1990 levels, it lays the strategic foundations for...

Low-carbon hydrogen has emerged as an important component of EU decarbonisation plans. It also adds a new element to the EU’s external energy policy, given that a sub­stantial share of Europe’s future hydrogen requirements will need to be met with imports. In this context, the Eastern...

The implementation of the European Union’s (EU) Green Deal to reduce emissions by 2030 and to achieve climate neutrality by 2050 will have an impact on the EU’s trade policy and on its trade relations with its non-EU partners. With the ongoing decarbonisation process of European economic...