Climate change and EU–China partnership: realist disguise or institutionalist blessing?

Abstract

Both the EU and China are important participants in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol. The EU’s reliance on legally binding rules and institutions demonstrates its strong belief on institutionalism. While interstate cooperation is certainly necessary, implementation of any international agreement and most of the work needs to be done within a state. Henceforth, an uneasy balance between national interests and international responsibility has to be maintained. In the case of EU–China partnership, the carbon aviation tax issue serves as a good example to examine the realist–institutionalist struggle. Although it is still too early to tell if the EU and China would overcome their major disagreements in the field of climate change, there is reason to believe that an international agreement may be reached by 2015.