Climate policy diffusion: interregional dialogue in China–EU relations

Abstract

National climate change policies are becoming similar, which can be interpreted as being a result of policy diffusion processes. Many of those policies are inspired by EU climate strategies. The EU actively promotes these policies in its external relations, such as in its partnership on climate change with China. This leads us to three sets of questions. Does the EU act as a transformative power in interregional cooperation on climate change? Can we identify a climate change policy diffusion process in EU–Chinese relations, and, if so, which communication channels as well as diffusion mechanisms can be identified? And, finally, is interregional cooperation on climate change a building block or a stumbling block in the global climate change regime? This article argues that the policy diffusion process depends on the scope of the interregional communication process between the EU and China, and the willingness and national responsiveness of China to adopt policy innovations.