Uncharted territory: EU climate diplomacy in international transport fora

Although the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is the well-established centre of gravity in international climate governance, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and the International Maritime Organization (IMO), two independent United Nations agencies, are the competent international fora for regulating emissions in their respective transport sectors. While aviation and shipping-related emissions make up a relatively small amount of global emissions, they are projected to increase exponentially under a business-as-usual scenario. Despite their mandates and calls for climate action in international transport, ICAO and IMO have traditionally remained isolated from the rest of the climate change regime complex. The European Union (EU), which has presented itself as a global leader on climate change, has long called for ambitious climate action in both ICAO and IMO. It has sought to employ ambitious market-based measures in both sectors. However, until recently, the two fora have largely remained outside the scope of EU climate diplomacy. That appeared to change following the Paris Agreement, with calls for integrating both fora into the Union’s climate diplomacy strategy. The combination of the EU’s robust climate diplomacy toolbox and the high importance the EU has seemingly placed on climate-related aspects of international transport suggest the EU would have engaged in substantial climate diplomacy for both ICAO and IMO. However, it remains unclear if and how the EU did so. Moreover, both fora offer a substantially different dynamic, both internally and externally, for the EU, as compared to the UNFCCC. ICAO and IMO have their own norms and structures, as well as specific considerations for addressing responsibility in climate action. Additionally, unlike the UNFCCC, the EU does not enjoy full membership in either forum. Along those lines, certain EU member states have particularly vested economic and political interests in the fluid functioning of international transport. Thus, EU climate diplomacy in international transport fora would seemingly take place in a more contested context than in the UNFCCC, raising uncertainty as to how it would be conducted. This paper therefore seeks to answer the research question How has the EU deployed its climate diplomacy in international transport fora? We look at EU diplomatic activity relating to two key climate-related transport negotiations: ICAO’s Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (2016) and IMO’s Initial Strategy on GHG Reduction in Shipping (2018). Using analysis of official documents and semi-structured interviews with EU and EU member state officials, we evaluate EU diplomatic activity in ICAO and IMO against four dimensions traditionally found in EU climate diplomacy: diplomatic dialogue, public diplomacy, external policy instruments, and internal coordination. The paper concludes in offering reflections on factors that facilitate and inhibit EU climate diplomacy in ICAO and IMO. As such, we gain insight into the transferability and effectiveness of EU climate diplomacy outside of the standard UNFCCC context. Additionally, with growing momentum for the decarbonization of transport, both in the EU and internationally, it is essential that we understand how the EU works to achieve its objectives in these two important fora.