New approaches to climate diplomacy 2013

With this project, adelphi – in close cooperation German Federal Foreign Office – aimed to identify and develop innovative foreign policy options regarding climate issues.

In 2011, the UN Security Council discussed the importance of climate change to security and thus clarified the role of foreign policy approaches play in climate politics. What scope of action does foreign policy have in this context? How should climate diplomacy be structured in order to properly complement the international climate negotiations? Which approaches to the challenges of climate policy will diplomats encounter in the various regions of the world?

In order to be able to answer these questions, adelphi explored new forms of cooperation and partnerships in key regions such as Southeast Asia and Africa. The focus was on topics like water and food security, trade, migration, and the possibility of sustainable growth.

In autumn 2013, for example, adelphi partnered with Ethiopia’s Institute for Security Studies (ISS) to organise a series of events in Addis Ababa with representatives from several African countries. The discussion on the impacts of climate change specific sectors such as water, food, energy and trade addressed the far-reaching consequences for development, cooperation and peace in the region, from which recommendations were drawn up for the African Union and the international community.

Further planned activities included topical and regional analyses of selected climate policy issues, the training of diplomats, the visualisation of this topic in the context of a traveling exhibition and the documentation of all results on the www.climate-diplomacy.org platform.