The Paris Climate Summit is scheduled to adopt a new global agreement on climate change on 11 December 2015. The EU has traditionally been considered an international leader on the subject, consistently pushing for ambitious action. However, this leading role has been challenged in recent years. Can the EU act coherently and push for stronger international action on climate change? This lecture provides an early opportunity to assess the outcomes of the Paris Conference and the role of the EU in the run up to, as well as at the Conference. In particular, part of the lecture will focus on the EU's climate diplomacy efforts, explaining how the European External Action Service has played a role in raising awareness and encouraging action amongst partners in and outside the EU. Key questions that will be asked at the event include: Has the EU’s role in engaging with third countries on the issue of climate change been successful? Both prior to, and during the Paris Conference? What role has the EU taken in climate diplomacy?Speakers:Olaf-Gamal Deussen, Policy Coordinator for Climate Diplomacy in the EEASSebastian Oberthür, Professor for Environment and Sustainable Development at the Institute for European Studies (IES-VUB)Chair: Katja Biedenkopf, Assistant Professor of European and International Studies at the University of Leuven & Associate Research Fellow at the IES