Category: Climate Policy & Environment
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Bolivia’s Environmental Policy Since Evo Morales
Is it possible for Bolivia to promote an environmental-forward political agenda while reproducing the structures of a neoliberal-capitalisit world system? Bolivia’s reliance on neo-extractivism to fund social programs reproduced dependency, highlighting contradictions between indigenous worldviews and capitalist economic imperatives. The case suggests that meaningful ecological transformation is difficult without a deeper structural break from extractivist…
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Hydro-Hegemony: Türkiye’s Leverage over Syria Iraq
How does Türkiye’s Southeastern Anatolia Project (GAP) transform upstream water control into geoeconomic leverage over Syria and Iraq? This article argues that expanded hydropower and irrigation infrastructure convert hydrological dominance into domestic economic gains, producing asymmetric interdependence and downstream vulnerability. It concludes that GAP functions as a geoeconomic instrument enabling Türkiye to extract political, security,…
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Hurricane Melissa and Climate Disaster Governance
How do military post-disaster operations illustrate the role and consequences of militaries as actors in climate governance? The intensity of Hurricane Melissa led to the involvement of foreign militaries in disaster relief. Disaster relief operations provide an entry point for militaries as actors in climate governance, and the responses to Melissa demonstrated how militaries can…
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The Green Transition in the Western Balkans
The 2026 CBAM implementation confronts the Western Balkans with a fundamental paradox: coal-dependent economies face €1.2bn in annual costs yet lack carbon pricing systems. Can regulatory constraint catalyse modernisation? Three pathways emerge: national carbon pricing (€2.8bn revenue 2026-30), ETS integration with free allocations (€10-20bn), and renewable valorisation. Success requires EU support, political will, and geopolitical…
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COP30: Europe Under Pressure Without the US
MQ: How has Europe navigated COP30’s climate negotiations and energy transition amid the US absence? MA: With the US absent, Europe took center stage, balancing climate ambition with strategic, geopolitical, and energy constraints; youth engagement added perspective but could not replace careful negotiation planning. C: COP30 shows European leadership is contingent; ambition must be paired…
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Power Struggles in the Energy Transition
How does China’s dominance in critical minerals and clean-tech manufacturing reshape global power in the energy transition? This brief argues that China’s control across the entire mineral-to-technology supply chain creates asymmetric dependencies that influence national climate strategies and create inequalities. As mineral geopolitics rises, securing diversified and resilient supply chains becomes essential for global climate…
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Climate Linked Instability in the Sahel and Horn
How does climate stress reshape patterns of authority and instability in high-risk African states? Using Burkina Faso and Somalia, the brief shows that climate shocks amplify existing governance weaknesses, alter mobility, and expand the space for non-state armed actors. Climate change is a multiplier: instability emerges not from climate stress alone, but from how it…
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The Pacific’s Climate Financing Dilemma
How do Pacific Small Island Developing States assess the COP29 Triple Finance Framework ahead of COP30? Climate finance supports PSIDS in reducing their vulnerability to climate impacts; however, more ambitious actions by other countries remain essential for their survival. At COP30, PSIDS plan on advocating for more stringent climate commitments (NDCs) in light of this…
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Ambition at Risk
“- How does the EU’s failure to submit a binding 2035 climate target affect its ability to agree on a 2040 target and maintain credibility in international climate negotiations? – Main argument: EU’s failure to submit a binding 2035 target weakens its credibility in climate diplomacy, complicates the 2040 goal, and risks its leadership at…