India’s Climate Diplomacy Towards the EU: From Copenhagen to Paris and Beyond

India-EU climate diplomacy has transitioned from being guided by ideational differences to pragmatic and result-oriented goals. The initial differences deepened in the run-up to the 2009 Copenhagen Summit, where India’s position as an ‘emerging economy’ led the EU to call for a new regime that would make countries such as India also adopt greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction targets. India, even while upholding the principles of equity and climate justice, decided to compromise on its traditionally held positions to become a part of the solution, which was most evident in the signing of the 2015 Paris Agreement. In the meantime, bilateral relations between India and the EU, particularly from certain member countries, strengthened in the climate change arena, as reflected in their strategic partnership. In this context, this chapter attempts to outline the drivers of and shifts in India-EU climate diplomacy using the conceptual framework of ‘climate diplomacy’ and ‘realist constructivism’ approach, with an eye on both ideational and material factors. It stimulates an ‘applied’ discussion on climate issues that could best contextualise India’s climate diplomacy towards the EU, with a focus on the 2009–2015 period and the future of the post-2020 international climate regime.