The European Union’s roles in global atmospheric governance: evolving towards a ‘spacifier’?

ABSTRACT

This contribution examines how the roles of the European Union (EU) in the governance of the atmosphere – the global ozone and climate regimes – as a contested Global Space have evolved over time. To do so, it first combines theoretical considerations regarding foreign policy roles and global justice. It then traces EU role conceptions and role performance in these regimes from their inception until today. The article argues that, as the two regimes have matured, the EU has increasingly been adopting the role of a ‘spacifier’, pursuing a substantive justice position dedicated to fully protecting the atmosphere (‘leaving the space in peace’) while actively striving to reconcile other actors’ positions. This role embodies the EU’s simultaneous quest for embracing the European Green Deal’s socio-ecological transformation agenda while becoming a geopolitical actor. It can be interpreted as an expression of ‘principled pragmatism’ under the conditions of the Anthropocene.

KEYWORDS:

• Atmosphere
• climate change
• European Union
• Global Spaces
• ozone
• role theory

Acknowledgement

The author would like to thank the three anonymous reviewers as well as Joseph Earsom for their very helpful comments on earlier drafts of the article.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.