EU and International Environmental Politics

Abstract

Environmental politics in the European Union and at the international level are marked by growing tensions between ambition and contestation, coordination and fragmentation, and environmental protection and economic priorities. This panel brings together four papers that examine how environmental politics are shaped by diplomatic practices, governance networks, political paradigms, and electoral incentives across multiple levels of governance. The first paper analyses how African states coordinate Common African Positions (CAPs) in international negotiations, with a particular focus on climate diplomacy. It theorises the epistemic and diplomatic mechanisms through which regional cohesion is produced despite weak sovereignty incentives, highlighting CAPs as vehicles of agency that allow African states to influence global environmental and climate governance. The second paper studies how local authorities acquire and disseminate climate adaptation knowledge through participation in EU-funded research projects and transnational municipal networks. Using social network analysis and interviews, it shows how highly connected “hub” cities act as knowledge brokers, while others adopt selective engagement strategies shaped by local interests and capacities. The third paper offers a critical reappraisal of EU environmental policy through a political ecology lens. It argues that the EU’s market-correcting, growth-oriented environmental paradigm has simultaneously enabled policy leadership and generated internal contradictions, contributing to environmental degradation, corporate privilege, and growing backlash against the green agenda of the EU. The fourth paper examines electoral politics, analysing how political parties adjust environmental positions in response to shifts in voter economic sentiment. It introduces the concept of cross-domain responsiveness, showing that parties strategically de-emphasise environmental protection during periods of strong economic optimism, revealing limits to postmaterialist explanations of environmental politics. Together, these contributions illuminate the multi-level, contested, and increasingly fragile nature of EU and international environmental politics, offering insights into coordination, conflict, and change in a turbulent political landscape.

Title	Details
Knowledge Networks for Climate Adaptation: Innovation and Exchange Among Local Authorities	View Paper Details
Strategically Environmental: How Economic Optimism Shifts Parties Away from Environmental Protection	View Paper Details
Moving the State of Art Forward: Political Ecology and EU Environmental Policy and Politics	View Paper Details
Crafting African Climate Diplomacy: The Politics of Consensus-Building Through Common African Positions	View Paper Details