Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
policy dimensions of climate change; a climate unit that had originally existed in
the Relex department of the European Commission had actually been broken up
and been transferred out of the foreign policy orbit since promulgation of the
seminal 2008 paper. The new climate diplomacy strategy promised identi
able
action on the security strand of EU policy.
In September 2011, the Commission produced a long-awaited memorandum on
how the EU should develop a more strategic approach to its international energy
policies. The role of climate change policies within the EU
s core security policies
was a central thread to the new policy document. The new strategy reinforced the
commitment to linking climate change policies to the EU
'
'
s core security policies.
A number of proposals more speci
cally pertinent to climate change were also
advocated, in particular to enhance cooperation with international partners on
renewable energy.
10
The document
ective strategies
against climate change could be an opportunity for the EU to regain strategic
in
'
s tone was very much that e
uence and leadership.
In July 2012 the External Action Service released an upgraded policy document
on the Arctic. In this, the EU committed to strengthening its security role in the
Arctic region. The document stated:
Maintaining good international cooperation
in the Arctic region and supporting the region
'
'
s stability is a key interest of
the European Union.
'
It stressed the importance of a holistic approach based on the
nostrums of
. Additional resources were
to be forthcoming for sustainable development in the region, especially in support
of indigenous communities. A
'
knowledge, responsibility and engagement
'
1 million development impact assessment of cli-
mate change was to be carried out. The EU was to press more assertively its bid to
gain observer status in the Arctic Council, pending since 2008. Diplomatic
engagement with Arctic states would be intensi
€
Greenland rela-
tions would be prioritised, in correction of their strikingly under-developed pro
ed. Bilateral EU
-
le
to date. The EU would hinge its engagement on ensuring the United Nations
Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) develop a more e
ective role as a
route to rules-based cooperation across the Arctic. The EU promised to contribute
to partnership-based shipping rules and emerging procedures.
11
Notwithstanding
this, in May 2013 the Arctic Council again postponed an o
er of observer status to
the European Union, while granting this to China and
ve other states (Germany,
France, the UK, the Netherlands, Poland and Spain already have observer mem-
bership). In late 2013 a number of northern states sought to attract EU aid for
projects in the Arctic, extending the focus of cross-border cooperation under the
Union
cation.
12
'
s so-called northern dimension, citing geopolitical changes as justi
airs committee motion of October 2012
served to refocus debate on the issue within the Brussels institutions, and called on
the EAS and Commission to forward more speci
A European Parliament
foreign a
c policy commitments in the area
