Climate change is no longer a niche issue, but is now part of broader political and economic agendas. In the U.S., for example, those supporting climate action face a broad alliance of opposition extending beyond climate change across many issues, as well as dysfunctions in the U.S. policy making process. For these reasons, Paul Joffe argues that climate diplomacy requires a strategy that goes beyond climate change to address the full range of these drivers.
In a time of diplomatic dysfunction, can Europe advance climate action by example and collaboration?
As we push for the huge transitions that climate change requires, we must ensure that arguments of solidarity and cooperation prevail over those of self-interest and competition.
The EU is currently negotiating a trade agreement with the four founding members of Mercosur. Negotiations cover a broad range of issues—but 1) do they consider climate change and 2) can compromises on environmental issues be found? In our interview, Christian Hübner, Head of the Regional Programme Energy Security and Climate Change Latin America, notes points of contention and shares how the EU and Mercosur can both benefit from deeper cooperation on energy and climate policy.
French president Emmanuel Macron is set to call for a global pact affirming universal principles for environmental protection at the UN general assembly next week.
Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) adopted the ‘BRICS Leaders’ Xiamen Declaration,’ reaffirming their commitment to fully implementing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, committing to enhance BRICS cooperation on climate change and expand green financing, and agreeing “to take concrete actions to advance result-oriented cooperation in such areas as prevention of air and water pollution, waste management and biodiversity conservation,” among others.
Women are disproportionately vulnerable to the effects of climate change. Although India’s national climate change action plans recognize this and include a gender dimension, female participation in policy making and climate diplomacy is negligible. Dhanasree Jayaram argues that the South Asian region as a whole urgently needs to deal with gender issues in climate diplomacy.
Top officials from Canada, Mexico and the US are now renegotiating the 23-year old North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). On the campaign trail, candidate Trump consistently called NAFTA “the worst trade deal ever,” and, in one of his first official acts as president, he signed an executive order to renegotiate the agreement. The first round has just ended, so we are about to get an important clue about the direction of travel of climate diplomacy and policy in Canada, Mexico and the US.
There is an emerging consensus CO2 needs to be sucked out of the air to meet climate goals, but no discussion of which countries are responsible for acting. Countries need to start negotiating who will take responsibility for removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, two scientists argued in Nature Climate Change on Monday.
The island state of Fiji is hosting the presidency of the next United Nations climate conference. Inia Seruiratu, Minister of Agriculture, explains why the exit of the United States from the Paris Agreement also has positive aspects, why he is focusing on climate change adaptation, and why Fiji will not be joining the climate risk insurance.