In 2016, 193 countries signed the Paris Agreement which soon became the symbol of international climate cooperation. Six years later, we are facing an alarming climate reality, which has only been worsened by the current geopolitical turmoil.
The war in Ukraine upended the global energy scene, bringing back traditional energy security patterns in favor of fossil fuels. China’s decision to cancel climate discussions with the United States after Nancy Pelosi’s August visit to Taiwan is yet another barrier to multilateral climate cooperation. This situation casts a pall over COP27, and questions countries’ capacity to accelerate their climate policy ambitions toward carbon neutrality.
It is in this difficult context for multilateral climate action that Institut Montaigne is publishing a policy paper analyzing the political feasibility of a climate club between Europe and Northeast Asia. This climate club aims to provide an additional format initiated by the Paris Agreement to accelerate and raise global climate ambitions.
This policy paper uses a comparative analysis of climate policies in these two regions. It also builds on a two-day policy dialogue that took place in July 2022 and a survey of more than 70 stakeholders from Europe, Japan, South Korea, and China.