Climate change solidarity within the EU

Abstract

In response to climate change, the European Union initiated two ambitious policies: an emission trading scheme, and an energy transition which combines a push for renewables and energy efficiency. The Lisbon Treaty explicitly calls for solidarity, and a number of ‘burden sharing’ agreements have indeed been made in the EU Emissions Trading System and, for renewables and energy efficiency goals, in the “20-20-20 in 2020” policies. Yet to what extent do the Lisbon Treaty commitments to solidarity underpin these policies? This panel will examine the relevance of solidarity in European climate change commitments and will ask, in the world beyond 2020 and shaped by the Paris Agreement for the governance of the Energy Union, what will solidarity become?