Explaining Variation in the EU’s Influence in International Environmental Negotiations

The aim of this paper is to explain variation in the EU’s influence in international environmental negotiations. Analysing several cases in different environmental forums – the United Nations Environment Assembly, the Convention on Biological Diversity as well as the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions – this paper counters the general focus in the literature on climate change negotiations. By studying a large variety of issues negotiated at those conferences, the paper explains variation in the EU’s influence in international environmental negotiations. It hypothesises that the EU’s influence will vary depending on the EU’s ambition, its flexibility, the role of other parties as well as the experience of the EU negotiators. The paper’s primary data source are interviews with EU and non-EU delegates, who were closely involved in the negotiations. In addition, it studies specialized press reports (ENDS Europe and the Earth Negotiation Bulletin), as well as official documents, including Council decisions and Commission documents. Those documents help to further test the hypotheses, as they provide helpful insights into the EU decision-making processes in international negotiations. Triangulating these sources allows to test the established hypotheses and explain the variation in the EU’s influence in international environmental negotiations.