A Strawman Proposal to Use International Flexibility in Achieving Developed Countries Climate Targets to Catalyse Global Decarbonisation
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Georg Zachmann
Abstract
The European Union is currently negotiating its 2040 climate target. But domestic emission reduction alone has no significant impact on tackling climate change. To be effective the EU’s pledge needs to be designed to catalyse emission reductions globally, particularly in the absence of ambitious commitments from the United States. To do so, the EU should leverage the buying power of its carbon-intensive industries, its diplomatic weight, and its experience with carbon markets. The article presents a proposal with three complementary pillars: ambitious domestic targets with some international flexibility, a robust architecture for international mitigation trading and the involvement of private money. Challenges to such an approach include how key stakeholders can be committed and encouraged and, at the same time, how effective governance can be ensured. The article responds to eight key concerns and makes the case for why international carbon trading, if used responsibly, can become a powerful element in the EU’s climate diplomacy toolbox.
References
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© 2025 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
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Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Editorial
- The End of US Dominance?
- Policy Papers (No Special Focus)
- Alternative Policy Rules and Post-Covid Fed Policies
- Accountability in Action: The European Parliament’s Assessment of the ECB 2024 Annual Report
- Germany’s Fiscal Turn: Structural Challenges, Political Risks, and European Spillover Effects
- Trumpian Neomercantilism, European Fiscal Capacity and the Global Minimum Tax
- Factors Driving India’s Growth: Challenges and Policy Measures
- Policy Forum: The End of US Dominance?
- After Multilateralism: The US and the World Bank
- The Triple Mandate of Development, Climate, and Humanitarian Aid
- The WTO Minus One: A Rules-Based Global Trading System Without The US?
- The Fed in the Crosshairs
- Will China Replace the USA as the World’s Leading Power
- Will the US Protect Taiwan in Case of Chinese Military Aggression?
- War in Ukraine: Is Russia Challenging the US Global Dominance?
- A Fragile Surge: European Support to Ukraine in Early 2025 – New Insights from the Kiel Institute Ukraine Support Tracker
- A Strawman Proposal to Use International Flexibility in Achieving Developed Countries Climate Targets to Catalyse Global Decarbonisation
