Climate Change and Foreign Policy

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The international community is increasingly realizing that achieving the consensus and commitment needed to dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the next few decades while preparing for unavoidable climatic impacts requires positioning climate change in a broader foreign policy context. Addressing the climate change challenge requires new thinking in foreign policy—thinking that considers engagement on climate change not only in the sphere of environment but also outside the environment box.

IISD is supporting the development of this approach by examining how climate change concerns can be more fully integrated into diplomacy and international relations, energy security, peace and security, trade and investment, and development cooperation. Our work in this area began with an initial exploration of how climate change issues link to and could be more fully integrated into foreign policy. We captured the outcomes of this research in the publication Climate Change and Foreign Policy: An Exploration of Options for Greater Integration. The research continued with an examination of how the European Union might achieve its objectives with respect to the engagement of major developing economies on climate change and clean energy. It also examined the linkages between climate change and security, first in West Africa and subsequently in the Middle East.

IISD's work related to climate change and foreign policy has been supported by Denmark's Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Publications