EU's soaring climate rhetoric not always matched by action

Bloc considers itself international leader on environment, but progress has been stunted

• EU aims to stir global action with climate pledge

The European Union considers itself as a leader on the environment and not without cause: policymaking in Brussels moved ahead of the international consensus in the 2000s.

But the soaring rhetoric has not always been matched by the necessary structural changes in the way European economies work and citizens live their lives.