Center For Climate and Foreign Policy

Applications for Our Research

Droughts, storms, floods – climate impacts are occurring worldwide, and the major societal, political, and economic challenges that they pose need addressing. Therefore, one focus of our research is the link between climate impacts and security risks. Climate change affects different areas of human security, including the destruction of natural livelihoods and traditional identities. While many developing countries are particularly affected, they have contributed least to causing climate change through greenhouse gas emissions.

People whose source of income is directly linked to healthy ecosystems, for example through fishing or agriculture, may face hardship due to climate change. One consequence of this is climate migration. Thus, another of our cross-cutting themes is the study of these interrelationships and possible humanitarian emergencies, as well as related issues of international law.

In addition, we assess the geoeconomic dimensions of climate change. As one of the largest economies in the world and the largest CO2 emitter in Europe, Germany has both a special responsibility for international climate policy and a significant capacity to act. In this context, we address the foreign policy challenges related to Germany’s climate and energy policy as well as its climate diplomacy. The geopolitics of resource flows for transformative technologies play an increasingly important role here, especially in terms of implementing the European Green Deal.

At the Center for Climate and Foreign Policy, we pursue an interdisciplinary research approach. Experts with backgrounds in the natural sciences, political science, and law work together to develop recommendations for action for German foreign policy that are as holistic as possible and do justice to the cross-disciplinary nature of the climate crisis. In addition, we use synergies with other program areas to strengthen DGAP’s research on global climate policy issues.