Leiden University Student Repository

Mensing, Bente Isabeau (2021)

The European Union’s Normative Power and Climate Leadership: The case of the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme

Master thesis | International Relations (MA)

This thesis examines the EU ETS and analyzes the Scheme's ability to support the EU’s climate leadership, which is founded on the principle of ‘leading by example’. As this is the most prominent formulation of EU climate leadership, a normative lens is used to analyze the nature and implications of the EU ETS. This is done using Ian Manner’s conception of normative power, which argues that the EU’s international power stems from its ability to shape international ideas by adhering to domestic norms. The author argues that the set-up of the ETS does not sufficiently incorporate fundamental EU values. Due to the policy’s significance in wider EU climate efforts, its lack of value incorporation results in a diminishing of the credibility of the EU’s climate leadership on an international level, and thus leads to a decrease in the region’s possibility to exert normative power.

European Union

Emissions Trading Scheme

Climate Change

Normative Power

Climate Justice

Author

Mensing, Bente Isabeau

Faculty

Faculty of Humanities

Specialisation

Global Order in Historical Perspective

Supervisors

Dr. Regilme, S. S. F.
Dr. Natermann, D. M.

ECTS Credits

15

Language

en