Analysis of the Climate Change Framework International, EU and National Level

Through this paper, I present the current situation of the national legislative and institutional framework in the field of climate change, compared to the international framework and the EU policy/institutions. To this end, I depict the actors involved at EU and national level in the development and implementation of climate change policy, but also how this concept evolved within the EU Treaties, given that up to the Treaty of Lisbon the concept of “climate change”, was subsumed to the environment. The Treaty of Lisbon will provide the Union with the appropriate tools to meet the complex challenges of the 21st century, including the negative effects of climate change. I also want to elaborate on the literature with information on how the carbon market works at EU level, as well as the implementation in Romania of EU ETS and other instruments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The purpose of the material is to identify the existing national bottlenecks. At the same time I propose how overcome them.Here I will reffer to concrete proposals for modifying/adpating the legislative/institutional framework that will ensure a good implementation of environmental aquis and international requirements. The constant presence of climate change on the political agenda at global and EU level, led to the establishment of the Climate Change Directorate within the European Commission in 2010. At the level of several Member States, there are national ministries / national authorities whose portfolio covers this policy while at national level there is only a dedicated unit within the Ministry of Environment. Policies and measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to the negative effects of climate change require an integrated approach to ensure an effective and effective implementation. Efficient monitoring and implementation of an integrated national policy, linked at all times to the international negotiations and European /global developments and to the political agenda, represent a challenge due to the current institutional national framework (inappropiate in terms of structure, personnel involved). Institutional reorganization as well as increased capacity building is urgently needed. At national level should be set up a ”climate network” and a unique structure within a ministry responsible with the climate change national agenda. For the bottlenecks at EU level on the carbon market, I think that the “carbon pricing” should be further discussed and see whether it can represent or not the trigger for the behaviour change in the non-ETS sector during the post 2020 period.