Since 2005, the European Union and China have sought to develop dialogue and cooperation in the area of climate change policy. This has taken place primarily within the framework of the EU-China Partnership on Climate Change, agreed at the 2005 EU-China Summit. Within this framework, both sides have developed institutionalised dialogue as well as cooperation in specific areas. From a European perspective, the aim of developing this engagement was to facilitate and support the development of domestic climate change policies in China, and to persuade the Chinese government to adopt emissions targets as part of a global climate change agreement for the period beyond 2012, when the first phase of the Kyoto Protocol expires. However, these outreach activities contributed relatively little to the EU’s ability to shape the international climate negotiations in accordance with European goals. Nowhere was this failure more evident than at the Copenhagen climate change conference in December 2009.