INTRODUCTION - Climate Change and European Security - page 4

Against this background, the topic seeks to advance debate by focusing on two
over-riding questions:
First, beyond the now well-established rhetoric, how far is climate security
actually prioritised within EU foreign policies?
Second, where the EU has upgraded its climate security policies, in which

direction has it moved: has it intensi ed holistic and cooperation-based approaches

or reverted to increasingly defensive and traditional notions of security?
My guiding hypothesis is that we should expect to see an increasingly close
match between the EU s established foreign policy identity and its incipient

approach towards climate security. This is the case because the holistic and inter-
connected challenges posed by climate change magnify precisely those strategic
principles that ostensibly form the foundation of the EU

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s long-standing and dis-
tinctive security identity. The topic scrutinises how far EU responses in practice
accord to an ideal-type liberal - cooperative framework.

Chapter two o ers a very brief overview of what international reports, o cial

documents and academic assessments have said in recent years about the likely e ects

of climate change. The topic does not seek to add to this literature, but merely set
the context for an assessment of EU security policies. Chapter three conceptualises
the EU

s sui generis identity as a security actor. European foreign and security policy
is made up of a complex balance of governance dynamics. It is vital to understand
this balance between realpolitik and liberal

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cooperative dimensions because it con-
ditions the way in which climate security is operationalised. Understanding EU
security governance is essential to explaining the way that EU climate security
combines

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dynamics. In line with this sui generis
security governance, chapter four provides an account of the overarching evolution
of EU climate security commitments. Chapter

' realist - rivalry ' and ' cooperative '

ve explores the complex bearings

that the EU ' s existing climate change and energy policies have had on developing

e orts towards a climate security strategy. Subsequent chapters then assess the nature

of EU policies in each component part of the climate security agenda: military -

defence con gurations; con ict resolution strategies; and geo-economic power.

Findings: serious intent, but inchoate in sum
I uncover an impressive range of new substantive EU commitments in the realm of
climate security. To some extent, presenting climate as a security issue has galva-
nised the policy agenda. Climate change has certainly begun to have an impact on
the general de nition of European security policy. Energy security has traditionally

been conceived and dealt with in terms of relations with key oil and gas producers
with little geo-strategic dimension evident in climate change adaptation; policy-
makers have moved to rectify this omission.