IEEP & IES Environmental Policy Forum

Former Ambassador Kjellén presented the background to his book, entitled A New Diplomacy for Sustainable Development: The Challenge of Global Change to the forum, in which 36 people participated. He discussed the notion of ‘new’ diplomacy in the context of global change and current global threats, while drawing on his own personal experience in environment and sustainable development negotiations. In particular, he presented his analysis of the current transatlantic relationship, while providing anecdotes from past negotiations. He outlined how the positions of the various negotiating parties in environmental negotiations were fixed quite early. While the US were often rigid in past negotiations, the EU regularly pushed for strong commitments. Mr. Kjellén highlighted the role of the EU in saving the Kyoto Protocol, but acknowledged the difficulties the EU faces in finding a common internal position. The US took on a passive role after it rejected the Kyoto Protocol. Paradoxically, this also helped to see the Protocol’s entry into force as this pushed the EU to take on a very proactive leadership role to secure other countries’ ratification, possibly more than it would otherwise have done. Finally, Mr. Kjellén gave some general observations on possible future developments in the transatlantic relationship. In the context of the upcoming US presidential elections, Mr. Kjellén suggested that climate change as such did not necessarily rank high on the agenda of the future president, but that security of energy supply was an issue that would concern the US tremendously. He expects the US to propose their own solution for a post-2012 agreement, which will differ from the EU approach. For this reason, the EU will likely need to prepare itself to react to proposals from the US that may be constructive, but may not necessarily match European expectations and proposals for measures to combat climate change, protect the environment and promote sustainable development.

Ambassador Stéphane de Loecker provided some further observations and comments to complement Mr. Kjellén’s presentation. In particular, he highlighted the different approaches of the EU and the US – where the EU emphasises a holistic approach, the US is more sectorally focused. He also emphasised the heavy internal machinery of the EU that often leaves little time or resources for developing external relations and links, and means that a long time-scale is required for proposals and policies to be accepted or implemented. Ambassador de Loecker described the emotional nature of the negotiations on the environment and sustainable development, but noted also that the issue of funds will soon need to be dealt with. He agreed with Mr. Kjellén on his outlook for the future development of relations with the US, highlighting that the Kyoto Protocol cannot and will not be ratified by the future US president.

Following the presentations of the members of the panel, the floor was opened for questions and comments, and a lively discussion ensued. Among the issues raised were the possibility of the EU maintaining its leadership role in environmental governance into the future; the role of the 2008 meeting in Poznan; the role of adaptation strategies, and developing long-term strategies for combating environmental degradation, among others.