Civil society participation in EU preparation for UN climate negotiations—Questions of openness and transparency

Abstract Despite the European Union's strong commitment to transparent and participatory governance, the preparation of its position for international climate negotiations is not particularly transparent or open to civil society participation. The situation could be said to reflect a broader paradigm of secrecy in EU policy‐ and law‐making. This paper discusses factors that uphold the secrecy in the EU preparation for climate negotiations and how that secrecy could dispelled to some extent. In addition, the analysis provides recommendations for how better civil society participation could be achieved without putting the confidentiality of the international climate negotiations or the EU's strategic ends at risk.