Please join Carleton Sustainable Energy Research Centre (CSERC) for a lecture by Francis McGowan, Visiting Scholar in the Institute of European, Russian and Eurasian Studies.

The European Union (EU)'s claim to global leadership in tackling climate change was largely premised on its own policies to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and to promote renewable energy and energy efficiency options. Over the last five years, however, the momentum behind that role through those policies has been eroded as concerns over competitiveness, affordability, and latterly security have taken precedence. This talk will examine how far and why the EU policy environment has changed and consider the implications of this change for the EU's contribution to global climate change negotiations.

Francis McGowan is a Visiting Scholar in the Institute of European, Russian and Eurasian Studies, Carleton University, as well as a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Politics, University of Sussex. After brief spells in journalism (Lloyds of London Press) and think tanks (the Institute of Fiscal Studies) he joined the Science Policy Research Unity (SPRU) at the University of Sussex in 1987, working in the Unit's Energy Programme. He shifted to the Politics Department at Sussex in 1993 though he remains a visiting fellow at SPRU. His research focuses on European energy policy and he is currently working on a comparative study of shale gas development and regulation in Europe and North America, funded by the British Academy.

5:45 - 6:00 p.m. Meet the Speaker
6:00 - 6:30 p.m. Presentation
6:30 - 7:30 p.m. Q&A and Discussion