Robert Schuman Foundation, Summer European Academy 2018
Abstract
Texas A&M University organizes the Summer European Academy, a Faculty-led Summer Study Abroad Program focusing on EU and European political, economic and security affairs with programs in Passau (Germany), Warsaw (Poland), Brussels (Belgium), and Paris (France). The Robert Schuman Foundation represents the main partner for the Summer European Academy program in France. For the second year in a row, I was invited to present my publications on transatlantic relations and international climate politics at the Robert Schuman Foundation to students and professors from Texas A&M University, as well as researchers from French and European think tanks. We engaged in extensive discussion and debate about the potential for climate change to reinforce the transatlantic dialogue under a multi-actor, multi-level approach that begins at the local level. The national level, while important, can be bypassed through cooperation between cities and regions on both sides of the Atlantic. How these entities interact and implement their commitments to the Paris Agreement, through non-formal mechanisms such as ‘parallel pledges’, provides an innovative framework for more robust transatlantic cooperation.