Presidential leadership styles and institutional capacity for climate policy integration in the European Commission

ABSTRACT Climate policy integration (CPI) is a key strategy for implementing climate action, spanning sectors and levels of governance. As central agenda-setting actor in the EU, we argue that understanding institutional capacity CPI inside European Commission especially important advancement EU overall. We focus on inner workings Commission, ask:what role does leadership style President play advancing CPI? assess during Barroso Juncker Presidencies, which display characteristics bottom-up top-down styles, respectively. While do not find one presidential necessarily ‘better’ than other at enhancing capacities CPI, highlight differences along four factors, namely: (1) political commitment to overarching objectives necessity CPI; (2) recognition functional overlaps between compatible beliefs among policymakers; (3) an opportunity structure innovative development entrepreneurship; (4) meaningful coordination consultation mechanisms.