The External Dimension of the Green Deal, between Cooperation and Competition

Over the past years, climate has gained a general consensus globally. Several actors, notably the European Union, the USA and China, have pledged to reach climate neutrality by and around mid-century. Simultaneously, climate has also become a major political issue at a time of escalating great power rivalry. Climate policy requires cooperation to tackle such a global issue, yet it entails a high level of competition over several areas. The EU has been at the front line with increasing climate ambitions, symbolised by its European Green Deal (EGD). The EGD will fundamentally reverberate beyond European borders. The EU could use several tools to push forward the energy transition globally, such as multilateralism and climate clubs, interconnectivity investments and its regulatory power among others. The EU could apply these tools to redraw energy relations, providing win-win solutions to its partners and neighbours, such as in the case of green hydrogen.

Paper produced in the framework of the IAI-Enel Foundation project “European Green Deal: Reaching Beyond Borders”, October 2022.