FIT & FAIR FOR 55? - A frame analysis of fairness arguments on the EU’s 2021 emission reduction proposals within the Council of the European Union

Abstract: Fairness, usually not a common consideration in international bargaining, features prominently in global climate negotiations. Also within the European Union, typically (self-)portrayed as a unified climate actor, discussing fair emission reduction targets divides the Member States. However, reaching fair agreements is the prerequisite for keeping to them, and thus understanding what fairness means for EU countries is paramount for future climate action. By analyzing the debates around the union’s most recent emission reduction proposal, Fit for 55, this work aims at answering the research questions of how EU Member States invoke and frame different fairness principles and how they thereby cluster argumentatively. Relying on frame theory and qualitative content analysis, eight debates in different constellations of the Council of the EU are coded. Among the eleven fairness principles found, those of capacity, flexibility, and just transition are raised most frequently, while generational justice and responsibility are invoked rarely. Furthermore, two argumentative groups can be identified: those referring to fairness as capacity, need, and equal burden sharing, and those framing fairness as equality, cost-efficiency, and flexibility. While the former group consists mostly of states with below EU-average GDP per capita, the latter group exclusively contains states with above EU-average GDP per capita. Thus, argumentative fairness patterns seem to reflect economic circumstances, a finding that can be helpful for future emission reduction allocations and the calculation of financial resources.