New Policy Brief: Keeping Climate Commitments under Parliamentary Control Strengthening national parliaments for climate governance in the European Union
The new policy brief Keeping Climate Commitments under Parliamentary Control, Strengthening national parliaments for climate governance in the European Union by Aron Buzogány, Vlad Surdea-Hernea, Alice Brawley-Chesworth and Maiu Lauring highlights how national parliaments stand at the intersection where long-term climate commitments meet the short horizons of electoral politics. As the main actors responsible for adopting ambitious climate legislation and scrutinizing government action, parliaments face unusual demands. They must monitor policies whose effects unfold over decades while remaining responsive to current electorates.
Across the European Union, climate change has moved from the margins of parliamentary debate into its mainstream. Climate-related statements made by MPs rose from less than 2% of parliamentary debate in the early 2000s to between 10% and 12% by 2020. Yet, greater attention does not ensure effective policy output. The tone and depth of debate still vary widely across Europe, as does actual parliamentary capacity to scrutinize climate policy implementation.
Legal adoption remains uneven across member states. Eleven EU member states have adopted comprehensive climate framework laws, eight have weaker or partial frameworks, and eight have none. Only five of the comprehensive framework laws provide differentiated targets by sector, seven member states use overall emission budgets, five include green-budgeting provisions, and eighteen have established climate advisory bodies with widely varying mandates and resources.
To strengthen the capacity of representative institutions to make and monitor climate decisions, the authors propose seven action points for national parliaments and supporting institutions. Parliaments must build a connected portfolio of parliamentary climate innovations, translate long-term targets into traceable commitments and make climate scrutiny part of the ordinary parliamentary cycle. Parliaments should also secure independent analytical capacity, give citizen input a visible parliamentary pathway, align accountability with administrative authority, and support parliamentary peer learning through EU institutions, bilateral contacts, and inter-parliamentary networks. Finally, democratic innovations attempted within parliaments have the greatest prospect of strengthening climate democracy when they become part of everyday parliamentary work and retain support across political divisions.
Read the full policy brief: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.21721201
