Climate Change Mitigation and Policy Spillovers in the EU’s Immediate Neighborhood

The European Union has been a global pioneer in the transition to decarbonize its economy and in EU neighborhood countries (EUN).

This paper assesses the performance of the EUN countries to date on emissions mitigation, their policies on that front, the extent to which they have experienced inward spillovers of tightening EU emission mitigation policies, and how further stringency in decarbonization policies in the EU in future is likely to affect them.

The paper also addresses the consequences of the EUN countries trying to keep pace with the EU’s carbon transition through a unilateral and upfront adoption of economywide decarbonization policies.