The EU and the progressive alliance negotiating in Durban: saving the climate?

A new Working Paper by Louise van Schaik for the London-based research institute ODI and the Climate and Development Knowledge Network (CDKN) examines the behaviour of the EU in international climate talks and explores how the EU could act as a positive force for creating consensus around collective action in the future.

The paper uses international relations theory to analyse the EU's alliance with groups of developing countries in December 2011. This alliance facilitated a significant breakthrough in the talks: agreement on the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action, which commits Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to agreeing an inclusive global climate deal by 2015.