Sustainability, Climate, and Geopolitics
Sustainability, Climate, and Geopolitics
About the Program

The Sustainability, Climate, and Geopolitics Program explores how climate change and the responses to it are changing international politics, global governance, and world security. Our work covers topics from the geopolitical implications of decarbonization and environmental breakdown to the challenge of building out clean energy supply chains, alternative protein options, and other challenges of a warming planet.

Projects

The U.S. Foreign Policy for Clean Energy Taskforce

Clean energy and associated products are increasingly essential for the security and prosperity of the United States. But if the United States is to decarbonize its own economy and do its part to cut global emissions to net zero, it will have to effect change beyond its borders.

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Program experts

Bentley Allan

Nonresident Scholar, Sustainability, Climate, and Geopolitics Program

Katie Auth

Nonresident Scholar, Africa Program

Dan Baer

Senior Vice President for Policy Research, Director, Europe Program

Susan Crawford

Susan Crawford

Senior Fellow, Sustainability, Climate, and Geopolitics Program

Mariano-Florentino (Tino) Cuéllar

President, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

Kelly S. Gallagher

Nonresident Scholar, Sustainability, Climate and Geopolitics Program

Liliana Gamboa

Nonresident Scholar, Carnegie California; Sustainability, Climate, and Geopolitics Program

Noah Gordon

Acting Co-Director, Sustainability, Climate, and Geopolitics Program, Fellow, Europe Program

John Kerry

John Kerry

Nonresident Scholar, Sustainability, Climate, and Geopolitics Program

Sarah Labowitz

Nonresident Scholar, Sustainability, Climate, and Geopolitics Program

Olivia Lazard

Fellow, Carnegie Europe

Jessica Tuchman Mathews

Distinguished Fellow

Milo McBride

Fellow, Sustainability, Climate, and Geopolitics Program

Satyendra Prasad

Nonresident Senior Fellow, South Asia Program, Sustainability, Climate and Geopolitics Program

Brett Rosenberg

Nonresident Scholar, American Statecraft Program

Matias Spektor

Nonresident Scholar, Sustainability, Climate, and Geopolitics Program

Anirudh Suri

Nonresident Scholar, Technology and Society Program

Katie Tobin

Nonresident Scholar, American Statecraft Program

Zainab Usman

Senior Fellow and Director, Africa Program

Richard Youngs

Senior Fellow, Democracy, Conflict, and Governance Program

What’s New

What’s New

A hurricane from space
article
Disaster Dollar Database

The rising pace and cost of disasters is cause for alarm, both because of the likelihood of major disruption in so many people’s lives, and because of the potential for systemic failures in the housing and insurance markets that could lead to wider, global economic shocks.

Ford Motor Company's electric F-150 Lightning on the production line at their Rouge Electric Vehicle Center in Dearborn, Michigan on September 8, 2022.
paper
Catching Up or Leaping Ahead? How Energy Innovation Can Secure U.S. Industrial Stature in a Net-Zero World

Chinese companies are dominating the production of technologies essential for a clean energy future. The United States should embrace innovation to preserve its future energy security.

Featured Content

Featured Content

In Case You Missed It

In Case You Missed It

The photo taken on May 9, 2024 shows workers installing photovoltaic panels at the Ningxia Tengger Desert New Energy Base in Zhongwei, in China's northern Ningxia region. 
article
How to De-risk Green Technology Supply Chains from China Without Risking Climate Catastrophe

Politics is pushing the United States and Europe to prefer domestically produced clean energy technologies. But such preferences risk slowing that transition—unless the governments take supplementary measures.

  • Belinda Schäpe's headshot
  • Belinda Schäpe
The photo taken on May 9, 2024 shows workers installing photovoltaic panels at the Ningxia Tengger Desert New Energy Base in Zhongwei, in China's northern Ningxia region. 
article
How to De-risk Green Technology Supply Chains from China Without Risking Climate Catastrophe

Politics is pushing the United States and Europe to prefer domestically produced clean energy technologies. But such preferences risk slowing that transition—unless the governments take supplementary measures.

  • Belinda Schäpe's headshot
  • Belinda Schäpe
event
Rising Seas Triggered Climate Lawsuits: What Now?
July 31, 2024

Climate change litigation is experiencing an unprecedented moment. More and more states are turning to international tribunals to seek guidance on a key question: what are their obligations under international law to address the climate crisis?

  • +3
event
Rising Seas Triggered Climate Lawsuits: What Now?
July 31, 2024

Climate change litigation is experiencing an unprecedented moment. More and more states are turning to international tribunals to seek guidance on a key question: what are their obligations under international law to address the climate crisis?

  • +3
 Migrants wait in line hoping for processing from Customs and Border Patrol agents after groups arrived at Jacumba Hot Springs, California, after walking under intense heat from Mexico into the US on June 5, 2024.
commentary
The Role of Migration in a Year of Crucial Elections

Roughly half of the world lives in countries holding elections in 2024. Carnegie asked a global group scholars to reflect on the role of migration in electoral campaigns. 

 Migrants wait in line hoping for processing from Customs and Border Patrol agents after groups arrived at Jacumba Hot Springs, California, after walking under intense heat from Mexico into the US on June 5, 2024.
commentary
The Role of Migration in a Year of Crucial Elections

Roughly half of the world lives in countries holding elections in 2024. Carnegie asked a global group scholars to reflect on the role of migration in electoral campaigns. 

About Us

Climate Support Staff

About Us

Climate Support Staff

Aislinn Familetti

Program Coordinator, South Asia and Sustainability, Climate and Geopolitics Programs

Debbra Goh

James C. Gaither Junior Fellow, Sustainability, Climate and Geopolitics Program

Debbra Goh is a James C. Gaither Junior Fellow in the Sustainability, Climate and Geopolitics Program.

Daniel Helmeci

Research Assistant, Sustainability, Climate, and Geopolitics Program

Daniel Helmeci is a research assistant in the Carnegie Sustainability, Climate, and Geopolitics Program.

Daevan Mangalmurti

James C. Gaither Junior Fellow, Sustainability, Climate and Geopolitics Program

Daevan Mangalmurti is a James C. Gaither Junior Fellow in the Sustainability, Climate and Geopolitics Program.

Aislinn Familetti

Program Coordinator, South Asia and Sustainability, Climate and Geopolitics Programs

Debbra Goh

James C. Gaither Junior Fellow, Sustainability, Climate and Geopolitics Program

Debbra Goh is a James C. Gaither Junior Fellow in the Sustainability, Climate and Geopolitics Program.

Daniel Helmeci

Research Assistant, Sustainability, Climate, and Geopolitics Program

Daniel Helmeci is a research assistant in the Carnegie Sustainability, Climate, and Geopolitics Program.

Daevan Mangalmurti

James C. Gaither Junior Fellow, Sustainability, Climate and Geopolitics Program

Daevan Mangalmurti is a James C. Gaither Junior Fellow in the Sustainability, Climate and Geopolitics Program.

All Work from Sustainability, Climate, and Geopolitics

filters
508 Results
Coffee beans fall off a man's hand and into a big bag of beans
commentary
What the Cobalt Industry Can Learn From Coffee Producers

Policymakers and industry leaders should look to the grocery store for inspiration in regulating the critical mineral industry.

  • Stephen Lezak
· October 8, 2024
Man climbing down from a broken road near a pile of debris
commentary
Helene Survivors’ Next Battle: A Ragged Federal Disaster Recovery System

Congressional paralysis has strained a system already reeling from more frequent and severe natural disasters.

· October 2, 2024
Ford Motor Company's electric F-150 Lightning on the production line at their Rouge Electric Vehicle Center in Dearborn, Michigan on September 8, 2022.
paper
Catching Up or Leaping Ahead? How Energy Innovation Can Secure U.S. Industrial Stature in a Net-Zero World

Chinese companies are dominating the production of technologies essential for a clean energy future. The United States should embrace innovation to preserve its future energy security.

· September 19, 2024
A man in protective gear silhouetted by light from a hot furnace
commentary
What Keeps a Climate Expert Up at Night

And how technology could help mitigate the issue—if global power dynamics don’t interfere.

· September 12, 2024
in the media
Congress Must Fund Housing Recovery

An article on the federal authorization of emergency funding for housing recovery

· September 3, 2024
The Honolulu Star-Advertiser
in the media
Flashing Red Lights from Florida

Many Floridians, of all possible political persuasions, are going to face financial ruin and displacement over the next few decades, as storms increase in intensity and chronic flooding arrives. These risks need to be reduced to avoid stupendous human and financial burdens ahead.

· September 3, 2024
Moving Day
A hurricane from space
article
Disaster Dollar Database

The rising pace and cost of disasters is cause for alarm, both because of the likelihood of major disruption in so many people’s lives, and because of the potential for systemic failures in the housing and insurance markets that could lead to wider, global economic shocks.

· August 20, 2024
The photo taken on May 9, 2024 shows workers installing photovoltaic panels at the Ningxia Tengger Desert New Energy Base in Zhongwei, in China's northern Ningxia region. 
article
How to De-risk Green Technology Supply Chains from China Without Risking Climate Catastrophe

Politics is pushing the United States and Europe to prefer domestically produced clean energy technologies. But such preferences risk slowing that transition—unless the governments take supplementary measures.

  • Belinda Schäpe's headshot
  • Belinda Schäpe
· August 14, 2024
event
Rising Seas Triggered Climate Lawsuits: What Now?
July 31, 2024

Climate change litigation is experiencing an unprecedented moment. More and more states are turning to international tribunals to seek guidance on a key question: what are their obligations under international law to address the climate crisis?

  • +3
A member of the Guarani-Kaiowa ethnic group (C) attends a hearing on the responsibility of states in the face of climate emergencies, organised by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights
article
A Seminal Case for Climate Litigation

Climate change presents states with new obligations. Chile and Colombia are asking what those are.

· June 26, 2024
Man climbing down from a broken road near a pile of debris
commentary