GY327: Critically assess the role of the European Union in effectively setting global: Environmental Politics Essay, MU, Ireland

Essay Topic A: Critically assess the role of the European Union in effectively setting global environmental policy, with reference to relevant academic literature.

Essay Topic B: Critically evaluate the extent to which feminism and gender theory challenge mainstream understandings of global environmental politics & environment policy generation, with reference to relevant academic literature.

Essay Topic C: Write a critical commentary, comparing/contrasting the approaches taken by two different States of your choosing at Global/United Nations conferences on the issue of combating climate change. This should include specific reference to COP21, the 2015 Paris Conference, and the upcoming COP27. (DO NOT talk about the Eu!!!! Use Individual Statues).

INTRODUCTION

Climate change is a grim challenge facing all mankind. Human activities since the industrial revolution, especially carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from large-scale fossil fuel consumption of developed countries, have led to a drastic increase in the concentration of greenhouse gases (GHGs) in the atmosphere. As a result, global climate change has been aggravated, posing a huge threat to global ecosystem security and socio-economic development of developing countries. Man and nature form a community of life.

Addressing climate change is a common cause of the human race. It requires the international community to uphold multilateralism, pursue green and low-carbon development, and jointly build a community with a shared future for mankind.

China is a developing country with a population up to 1.4 billion. It is facing multiple challenges including economic development, people’s livelihood improvement, and environmental protection, coupled with the prominent contradiction of unbalanced and inadequate development. China is also among countries most severely affected by climate change. Climate change has exerted persistent impacts on China’s ecological environment and socio-economic development, and already brought serious threats to its food, water, ecology, energy, and urban operation security, as well as people’s safety and property.

China attaches high importance to addressing climate change. As President Xi Jinping reiterated, to address climate change is not at others’ request but on China’s own initiative. It is what China needs to do to achieve sustainable development at home, as well as to fulfill itsdue obligation to build a community with a shared future for mankind. China regards tackling climate change as an important starting point to push forward high-quality economic development, high-level environmental protection, and ecological civilization construction. It has incorporated climate change into the national economic and social development plans, put equal emphasis on mitigation and adaptation to climate change, and made every effort to advance all the work by legal, administrative, technical, market, and other means.