In 2022, the German government set out to draft a foreign climate policy strategy under the leadership and coordination of its Federal Foreign Office. From September 2022 to December 2023, the Center for Climate and Foreign Policy at the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP) accompanied the development of this strategy with a dialogue process.
This structured dialogue process – a project that was funded by Germany’s Federal Foreign Office and whose output was in German – brought together stakeholders from civil society, research, and business as well as from implementing organizations. The goal was to broadly discuss the foreign policy dimension of the climate crisis and to help network the relevant actors. Concrete options for action were identified and the opportunities and risks of various policy approaches assessed. The findings from this process were incorporated into the government’s strategy.
DGAP contributed experts from various fields who shared their knowledge on the foreign policy dimensions of the climate crisis. DGAP continues to serve as an ideal venue for the non-partisan and interdisciplinary exchange that is urgently needed to identify solutions to the climate and biodiversity crisis.
The central element of the dialogue process was a series of events that focused on strategic issues of foreign climate policy. In addition to the green transformation and the need for the decarbonization of industry and its foreign and geopolitical implications, topics included issues of adaptation to climate impacts and the growing importance of worldwide damage and loss related to climate change. The discussions around these themes focused on the foreign, security, and geopolitical implications of a changing global climate, as well as how the German government can best position itself in dealing with these issues.
Experts
