Minister Alex White hails major Irish work on climate change politics

A new book on European climate change politics by Dr Diarmuid Torney, a lecturer in International Relations at DCU, was launched this week by Alex White, Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources.

Speaking at the launch, Minister White said:

“The book is a really major contribution to the scholarship of climate change policy and also of the European Union—how the EU makes policy and how it progresses policy.

Diarmuid has performed a huge task and has done something that will assist all of us—policy-makers, commentators, citizens, academics—in terms of understanding where we’ve come from and where we’re going.”

Dr Torney’s book, European Climate Leadership in Question: Policies toward China and India, was launched by Minister White at the Royal Irish Academy. Praising the book, Minister White said that he would recommend it to his fellow EU energy ministers when they meet later this month.

Dr. Torney identifies Europe’s role in providing international climate change leadership. The EU has long claimed to lead international efforts to combat climate change. Published by MIT Press, this book is the first systemic assessment of that claim.

Commenting at the launch, Dr Torney said:

“Contrary to received wisdom about the decline of the EU in world politics, when Chinese policy-makers look to design climate policies, they look to the EU for examples of best practice. Some argue that the EU has a limited role to play in world climate politics. But my book shows that the EU can still play a decisive role.”

The author, Dr Diarmuid Torney, is a lecturer in International Relations in the School of Law and Government at Dublin City University. He has a PhD in International Relations from Oxford University.

For more information about the book, visit https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/european-climate-leadership-question