Climate Diplomacy in a Messy World
Essays & Articles
Essays & Articles
A range of expert voices offer perspectives on the key dimensions of climate diplomacy in a fragmented world, exploring what is working, what is not, and what more strategic arrangements could look like. The series will continue to expand to reflect a broader range of perspectives.
Views expressed by external authors do not necessarily represent the views of WRI.
Climate Diplomacy as Development Statecraft
By Carlos Lopes, Professor at the Mandela School of Public Governance, University of Cape Town
Carlos Lopes makes the case that climate negotiations, while indispensable, are no longer sufficient on their own — they coexist with an expanding ecosystem of development banks, regional organizations, industrial partnerships and private investors, which increasingly determines whether climate ambitions translate into economic reality. Climate diplomacy, he argues, should now be understood not as environmental negotiation, but as development statecraft.
A Double Reset: Can EU Diplomacy Help Revive Climate Multilateralism?
By Anne-Sophie Cerisola, Distinguished Fellow at Strategic Perspectives
Anne-Sophie Cerisola traces how the EU is accelerating bilateral agreements to secure its supply chains and export markets while protecting itself against trade and energy shocks from China or the U.S. She highlights the EU's choice to keep participating in the multilateral climate space as the only "big tent" left, embracing climate multilateralism as both top-down, negotiating common norms, and bottom-up, delivering concrete results.
India and the New Geopolitics of Climate Cooperation
By Arunabha Ghosh, Former CEO of the Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW), and Jhalak Aggarwal of CEEW
Arunabha Ghosh and Jhalak Aggarwal find that climate diplomacy is rapidly becoming more about securing economic sovereignty, industrial capacity, competitiveness and strategic resilience — though momentum toward international climate action hasn't stalled entirely. They lay out five priorities for climate governance in a divided world, from sharper "coalitions of the doing" to rising regional cooperation as its own engine of action.
Climate Diplomacy with Chinese Dimensions
By Li Shuo, Director of the China Climate Hub at the Asia Society Policy Institute
Li Shuo makes the case that climate action is now driven by economic fundamentals. Climate diplomacy has become one component of a broader mosaic, an important supporting force but in a context of economic competition. Among all major emitters, he argues, China's role and relationships will be the most consequential, and its industrial rise in clean technologies, though a challenge to some, is also an asset to be harnessed.
WRI Insights | What the Paris Agreement Was Built to Do — and Why It Still Matters
By Nathan Cogswell
Nathan Cogswell makes the case that the Paris Agreement remains central to global climate cooperation, even as it faces its toughest geopolitical environment yet. He points to three vital functions — providing a global political platform, setting collective ambition, and shaping national implementation — though it is not a silver bullet, and must work alongside coalitions, bilateral partnerships and regional forums to drive climate action.