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The conference "EU Environmental Policy and Governance: The Challenge of Climate Change and beyond" was held on 20 - 21 June 2008 at the European University Institute (EUI), Florence. Organised by the EUI Alumni Association in co-operation with Ecologic Senior Fellow Dr. Ingmar von Homeyer and the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies (RSCAS), the conference focused on emerging trends in EU environmental policy and governance, including interactions with energy policy and EU economic competitiveness, in particular the goal of a competitive low-carbon economy. The aim was to contribute to a deeper understanding of these fields and their inter-relations based on a multidisciplinary approach.

EU environmental policy and governance have undergone important changes in recent years. These can be characterised broadly as a stronger focus on the challenge of sustainable development. This has led to an increased emphasis on long-term goals, the external dimension of EU environmental policies, and on the integration of environmental and sectoral economic policies. EU policy to combat climate change stands out as the politically most important example of these developments, which, however, can also be observed in other fields of EU environmental policy-making.

The conference sought to enhance our understanding of the implications of these changes for EU environmental governance and policy as well as related policies, in particular energy policy. Reflecting both the comprehensiveness of the changes and the fact that they have been particularly pronounced in EU policies related to climate change, the conference comprised three sub-themes:

1. Environmental governance: continuity and change;
2. A competitive low-carbon economy: what role for regulation and policy;
3. Climate change, energy policy, and the external role of the EU.

Ecologic Senior Fellow Dr Ingmar von Homeyer co-organised the conference together with Prof Annette Bongardt, Prof Francisco Torres and the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies (RSCAS). He also contributed two presentations: "The Evolution of EU Environmental Policy: A Governance Perspective" and "Experimentalist Environmental Governance in the EU". Selected contributions to the workshop will be published in a book edited by the conference organizers.