EU High Representative Ashton Speaks at the UN in Geneva, Switzerland

Routledge has just released a new book, Climate Change and European Security, by Richard Youngs, a senior associate with the democracy and rule of law program at Carnegie Europe. This book provides an important synthesis of how the European Union has set about integrating climate change concerns into its foreign and security policy. The top line summary of the book notes that despite some advances in this space, there is still ample progress to be made:

As the EU tackles select elements of climate security, it has yet to put in place a foreign policy to manage the geostrategic turmoil that climate change has in store.

This book looks at the impact of climate change on European Union (EU) security policy. It explores how governments are reconfiguring their geo-strategy and broader international relations in the wake of climate change warnings. The book demonstrates that although many aspects of EU foreign policies have begun to change, ‘climate security’ is not yet accorded unequivocal or sufficient priority. In doing so, Youngs argues that if climate change policies are to have significant effect they can no longer be treated as a separate area of policy but must be incorporated into the more mainstream debates pertinent to EU common foreign and security policy (CFSP).