EU ambition in international environmental negotiations

This paper studies the development of the EU’s ambition over time in the Convention on Biological Diversity, as well as the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions. Ambition is understood as the extent to which the EU prefers a negotiation outcome that will lead to a high level of environmental protection. The paper focuses on the EU’s positions presented at the conferences of the parties (COPs) over a seven-year period (2012-2019). As all conventions meet every two years, four COPs per convention are included in the sample. This allows to compare the EU’s ambition both over time and between these conventions. Thereby, it is possible to identify if differences over time are a general phenomenon, i.e. observed in all conventions, or rather specific to one of the cases. By focusing on the EU’s ambition over time, the paper wishes to answer the following research question: How did the EU’s level of ambition in international environmental conventions evolve over time? Research is based on the analysis of the official information notes, which are published by the EU and which include the statements given by the EU and its member states at the COPs. The documents outline every plenary statement on all agenda items, given by the EU. This allows to assess the level of EU ambition on these negotiations. By coding the official information notes, the paper is able to compare the EU’s ambition both among conventions and over time. The results show that the EU’s ambition is usually positive, i.e. the EU defends weak, moderate or high ambitious positions. Its ambition is highest in the Rotterdam Convention and lowest in the Basel Convention. Over time, the EU’s ambition only evolves to a very limited extent and variation is relatively random