What Has Europe Ever Done To/For Us: Europe's Gordian Knot in Drifting Climate and Geopolitics

Climate breakdown mitigation and adaptation measures are manifesting themselves as a radix of public policies. Climate implications on the global security have been widely recognized in their short-term and long-term preeminence, and the mainstream objective is to align economic development with respect to natural environments and sociable equitability. The European Union’s environmental policy has evolved as the perception of the problem has become undeniably clamorous. Careful examination of the environmental pledges articulated by the EU on the global scene is fraught with difficulties. It suffers from loss of attractiveness under decolonial and inequity accusations from competitors and industry vested interests (e.g., China, Russian Federation, OPEC, GEFC). What is more, the EU appears to lack credibility in its advocacy of democracy and equitable energy transition in the context of being itself crippled with internal anti-democratic movements and failing to deliver on environmental indicators while also acting as a major contributor to fossil fuel emissions respectively. Drawing on diverse sources, the article aims to identify a number of bottlenecks and contradictions in the EU messaging to reinstate its credibility as a major geopolitical actor for democracy through the lenses of climate narratives.