In this article in Internationale Politik, Germany's leading foreign policy magazine, Martin Kremer of the Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik (SWP) and Sascha Müller-Kraenner, Senior Policy Advisor of Ecologic Institute, discuss the new tools for EU climate foreign policy under the Lisbon Treaty and the possible role of the European External Action Service.

The Lisbon Treaty provides new tools for Europe to combat climate change. Europe will have to figure out how to put the European External Action Service (EEAS) to use in order to avoid another failure of global environmental leadership like Copenhagen. Obviously, leading by example is not enough.

The key messages of the article are:

• The implications of the Copenhagen debacle go far beyond climate change.
• The European Union must rethink its multilateral negotiating strategy.
• Europe's economic strength does not translate directly into influence.