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The European Commission has played a crucial role in promoting ambitious EU climate targets and policies that boost the credibility of EU leadership-by-example efforts internationally. The approach has gradually shifted from leadership toward more strategic behavior that reflects the preferences of the member states. Reduced uncertainty concerning member-state preferences and solutions accounts for much of the change in leadership. Uncertainty has decreased as climate policies have become more mature and member states have gained experience from implementing them. Asymmetries in member-state preferences, decision-making procedures, and impatience caused by the international context are all important conditions for the European Commission's leadership. These observations lend support to apparently contradictory theories that have seen EU climate policy as propelled either by autonomous supranational institutions or by increasingly ambitious member states.

The unitary rational actor (URA) model enjoys a strong position in the study of international politics. I argue that it is far from obvious that the URA model is the most fruitful point of departure in the study of international environmental politics compared to more complex models of bureaucratic politics and the role of interest groups. The argument is based on a brief description of international environmental problems and politics and various criteria of fruitfulness. Particular attention is devoted to the principle of methodological individualism as one criterion of fruitfulness. The discussion is illustrated by applying the models to explain the development of EU climate policy.

The EU Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS) has been characterized as one of the most far-reaching and radical environmental policies for many years. This book investigates the origins, evolution and consequences of the scheme and offers significant contributions to the literatures on climate policy and EU policy making.

"Multinational corporations are not merely the problem in environmental concerns, but could also be part of the solution. The oil industry and climate change provide the clearest example of how the two are linked; what is less well-known is how the industry is responding to these concerns. This volume presents a detailed study of the climate strategies of ExxonMobil, Shell and Statoil. With an innovative analytical approach, the authors explain variations at three decision-making levels: within the companies themselves, in the national home-bases of the companies, and at an international level. The analysis generates policy-relevant knowledge about whether and how corporate resistance to a viable climate policy can be overcome. The analytical approach developed by the authors is also applicable to other areas of environmental degradation where multinational corporations play a central role. The book is invaluable to students, researchers and practitioners interested in national and international environmental politics and business environmental management"--Publisher's description