Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
4
THE EU
S CLIMATE SECURITY
RESPONSE
'
Concerns over the geopolitical e
ects of climate change have existed for some time.
Gradually, the European Union (EU) has begun to react, both through common
institutions in Brussels and member states
'
national policy initiatives. This chapter
outlines the nature of the EU
s basic commitments in the area of climate security. An
impressive range of formal policies has been introduced and the EU has mapped out
in comprehensive fashion the degree of change required of European security poli-
cies. Nearly all member states, as well as the External Action Service (EAS) and
European Commission, now have supposedly high priority policies on climate
security. Ministerial speeches have honed in on the strategic implications of climate
change with increasing frequency and have promised extensive action.
While a signi
'
cant breadth of policy innovation is evident, much debilitating
institutional inertia remains. Institutional processes have not been developed that
accord climate security clear lines of responsibility. This has militated against any
signi
cant momentum being generated behind the practical
implementation of
climate security strategies. Notwithstanding European e
orts to have the United
Nations Security Council (UNSC) assume a role in climate security, in general the
EU has struggled to advance holistic notions of security at the multilateral level.
There is some evidence that the importance attached to climate security has begun
to weaken since 2010
uence of the
eurozone crisis. Overall, the EU can be said to have established the foundations for
a meaningful commitment to climate security, but has been slow to equip its
institutions for signi
-
11, in some measure due to the de
ecting in
cant advances at the level of policy implementation. Civil
society organisations and businesses have begun to buy into the climate security
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