Climate Change and Geopolitics

As the physical impacts of climate change grow more evident and more severe around the world, it is increasingly apparent that it will also transform international relations, international security, and geopolitics. On the one hand, experts in these fields lack clear principles to guide their thinking on climate change. On the other hand, those working in climate and energy policy also need to take greater account of great power competition.

In summer 2021, we convened a diverse group of scholars and policymakers to discuss how to bridge this crucial gap. The workshop explored both theoretical and practical questions, such as how to reconcile the need for collective international action on climate change with growing strategic rivalry between the United States and China.

Click here to read a blog post published this summer by Scott Moore, Director of China Programs and Strategic Initiatives at the University of Pennsylvania, synthesizing the workshop findings

To accompany the blog, we've also released a series of thought pieces from the experts who attended the workshop, sharing their ideas on how to close gaps on climate change in policy planning and scholarly research.

Implications of Climate Change for the International Order: Non-State Actors, International Trade, Migration

• Better Cross-Regime Connectivity is Needed to Address the Collateral Impacts of Climate Change by William Burke-White
• Stabilizing the International Order by Climate-Proofing our Future Security Systems by Sherri Goodman and Elsa Barron
• Reimagining Global Climate Policy: From Cooperation to Conflict by Jessica Green
• “Green, Sectoral Lighthizer-ism”: Using Climate Policy to Advance Global Economic Governance Reform by Thomas Hale
• Addressing International Climate Displacement: Using Executive Authority to Rebuild U.S. Soft Power by Alexandra Meise
• Geoengineering and the International System by Scott Moore
• Broadly Incorporating Climate into Unilateral and Multilateral Systems by Lauren Risi
• Three Governance Challenges in the Era of Carbon Neutrality by Alex Wang

Geopolitical and Security Dimensions of Climate Change: China, Transatlantic Relations, Gulf States, and International Organizations

• Climate Change and the Future of Geopolitics by Dan Bodansky
• Addressing the 'Action Gap' in Institutional Responses to Climate Change by Andrea H. Cameron
• Three Modes of Thinking about Climate Change and Grand Strategy by Jeff D. Colgan
• Using Strategic Investment to Address the Climate and Security Problems of Tomorrow by Alexandra Hackbarth
• Climate Change and U.S. Security Priorities by Cullen Hendrix
• The U.S.-China Relationship and the Global Climate Response by Joanna Lewis
• Shifting Power Landscapes in a Changing Climate by Dahlia Simangan

Reactions from Policymakers

• Climate Change Requires an Evolving National Security Doctrine by Rod Schoonover
• The Political Risks of a Low-Carbon Transition by Byford Tsang

This workshop was organized with support from Carnegie Corporation of New York.