Transatlantic Relations and the Challenges of Climate Change and the Environment
This chapter offers a discussion of the US-EU climate and environmental relationship from three angles. It starts with a comparison of their domestic policies that serves to highlight commonalities and differences in the values underpinning environmental policies in the US and the EU. It then examines the US-EU bilateral relationship around environmental matters. Finally, this chapter discusses how the transatlantic relationship plays out in the context of global environmental politics. It argues that a profound transatlantic normative disconnect relating to precaution in the face of risk is periodically overcome through pragmatic transatlantic bargains based on political will, interest convergence, and relying on cross-Atlantic civil society networks. This chapter concludes by looking into the future of transatlantic sustainability relations. Given growing cross-Atlantic public demand for decisive environmental action, the 2020s may well become the time to stabilize transatlantic sustainability cooperation and provide durable co-leadership to the planet.