The EU's climate leadership: The case of Serbia

The contemporary world is facing climate change and global warming as an emerging challenge throughout the globe. The climate change and its impacts are not limited to a specific border or region, and its effects are universal. Considering this fact, as a response, the international community including influential powers like the US and the EU attempted to establish an international coping mechanism. The international efforts against climate change entered a new era with the adoption of United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in 1992. Since the adoption of UNFCCC which is considered as the foundation of the international regime against climate change, several initiatives have been taken with the formation of international agreements. The EU and the US are both significant actors in international efforts against climate change. EU has considerable market power and economic influence internationally and the US possesses political and economic capabilities around the world. Since the US has already withdrawn from the "Kyoto Protocol" and "Paris Agreement" once, the role of the EU as a climate actor gained more weight in the last two decades and at some point, is portrayed as a climate leader in the international arena. A climate actor tends to cope with climate change as a pioneer without aiming at guiding others, but a leader tends to influence others and attempts to attract followers. Bearing in mind the EU's policy to extend its values, the Republic of Serbia as the largest and most populated country in the Western Balkans region, was chosen as a case study. Building upon the leadership concept in International Relations, this thesis conducts a qualitative in-depth study using 'qualitative content analysis' as a suitable research method to find out how the EU's climate leadership on energy transition contributes to Serbia's climate policies. The thesis argues that the EU seeks international leadership thorough its climate actions.