Framing Climate Change in the EU and US After the Paris Agreement

‘This comparative analysis of contemporary climate change discourse in the EU and the US impresses through its sound theoretical grounding and systematic empirical investigation. It makes an outstanding contribution to understanding the critical role of ideas and their framing in climate politics. It also provides new insights into the deep-rooted transatlantic differences in this policy field. Recommended reading!’ —Sebastian Oberthür, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium and University of Eastern Finland, Finland ‘This book provides the first comprehensive comparison of climate action in the EU and the US after the Paris Agreement. Contrasting policy development in both cases, it shows the power of ideas in explaining different approaches to tackling climate change.’ —Jon Birger Skjærseth, Fridtjof Nansens Institute, Norway ‘This book makes a novel contribution to our understanding of different discourses in climate change policy-makingon the EU level and in the US. The book makes an important and very timely contribution to the literature. It provides a comprehensive assessment of core ideas and discourses which shape EU and American climate policy-making.’ —Rüdiger Wurzel, University of Hull, UK Political responses to climate change are shaped by beliefs and ideas. How does discourse on climate action and its contestation affect policy-making? Addressing this question, the book compares EU and US policy-making since the Paris Agreement and its framing by key political institutions. The empirical part analyses the structure, linkages and contestation of frames to evaluate the contrasting spaces of climate politics in both systems. As the first direct comparison of EU and US climate governance since the Paris Agreement, the book advances current research on the politics of climate change, the politicization of multi-level governance and the role of discourse for policy change. FrankWendler is Senior Faculty Member (Privatdozent) at the Department of Social Sciences and Lead Researcher for the project 'How Ideas Frame the Politics of Climate Change', funded by the German Science Foundation (DFG) and based at the Center for Sustainable Society (CSS) of the University of Hamburg, Germany.