As an active actor, the European Union has a long history in the global environment and climate policy. With its approximately 50 years of experience in international negotiations and internal policy-making, the EU has often been attributed as a global leader, which has evolved into an objective of the Union in time. This book examines the European Union’s global climate leadership discourse in the wake of the announcement of the EU’s current sustainable growth strategy, the European Green Deal. To provide a comprehensive outlook, this book examines the development of global environmental policy and the European Union’s role within, environmental policy-making and the actors of the European Union, and finally the European Green Deal with its dimensions and cross-sectoral policies. This book aims to provide an analysis of the European Green Deal policies` contribution to the European Union`s global climate leadership. In this context, the book elaborates on exemplary and diplomatic leadership as framework concepts and applies these two concepts to the European Green Deal against the current challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic recovery process and Russia-Ukraine war-driven energy crisis.