Climate change policy in the European Union: confronting the dilemmas of mitigation and adaptation edited by A Jordan, D Huitema, H van Asselt, T Rayner, F Berkhout; Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2010, 304 pages, £60.00 cloth, ISBN 978 0521196123

摘要

Climate change has moved up the political agenda considerably and emerged as a crucial cross-sectoral challenge, demanding the attention of policy makers and citizens alike. Despite the challenges to the governance of climate change on a global level and the current inability of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change members states to commit to a post-Kyoto agreement, the European Union (EU) has emerged and defended its position as a leader in climate change policy, thereby becoming a laboratory for regional climate governance. Industrialized countries such as Japan and the United States as well as the major emerging economies—China, India, and Brazil—carefully observe the climate mitigation and adaptation achievements of European countries who have contributed considerably to climate change through their own industrialization in the 19th and 20th century. Although carbon lock-in challenges remain, European countries are considered to be in a good position to design and implement climate change policies. These favourable conditions include technological and financial capabilities as well as environmental awareness and broad public support for climate policy.