Greener than expected? EU finance ministries address climate finance

Summary, in English

Climate finance constitutes an integral part of the European Union’s climate policy. Yet, climate policy is increasingly addressed by non-environmental institutions. In examining the transfer of climate finance from the Environment Council to the Council for Economic and Financial Affairs (ECOFIN) in spring 2009, I analyse how climate finance has been framed in ECOFIN. Two finance ministerial framings quickly became intrinsic to ECOFIN and had a substantial influence on climate finance decisions: securing an effective response to climate change and limiting public expenditure. While policy entrepreneurs managed to build a consensus on most issues around an effective response to climate change, Member States at the October 2009 ECOFIN Council could not agree on a joint position due to some Member States’ emphasis on limiting expenditure. Only the European Council was capable of resolving the issue.

• Author: Jakob Skovgaard
• Department/s: Department of Political Science; BECC: Biodiversity and Ecosystem services in a Changing Climate
• Publishing year: 2015
• Language: English
• Pages: 951-969
• Publication/Series: Environmental Politics
• Volume: 24
• Issue: 6
• Links: http://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/HdrPuGT7sFdrxdXbQ4NH/full; http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09644016.2015.1056575
• Document type: Journal article
• Publisher: Taylor & Francis
• Topic: Political Science (excluding Public Administration Studies and Globalization Studies)
• Keywords: bureaucratic politics; framing; European Union; climate finance; climate change
• Status: Published
• Project: Leadership Abandoned? – Explaining the EU’s Position in the Global Climate Change Negotiations 2007-2010
• Research group: Miljöpolitik
• ISBN/ISSN/Other: ISSN: 0964-4016