21st Century Diplomacy

In the context of the UN general debate in September 2020, adelphi and the Wilson Center initiated the series 21st Century Diplomacy: Foreign Policy Is Climate Policy – a project to help the foreign policy community prepare for a new global environment in a changing climate. 21st Century Diplomacy: Foreign Policy Is Climate Policy is a series of essays, interviews and op-eds on some of the most important climate and foreign policy issues facing the world today: climate superpowers; climate change and financial stability; the geopolitics of decarbonisation; geoengineering: interventions in the atmosphere; climate change, mobility and displacement; climate change, justice and democracy; and new modes of multilateralism.

The motivation is simple: So far, foreign policy responses to climate change have focused primarily on its security policy consequences, international treaty negotiations and the promotion of renewable energies. However, the impact of climate change on foreign policy is much broader. The essay series provides new input to drive transformative change – because foreign policy is climate policy.

The high-ranking contributors include Wolfgang Ischinger, Helga Maria Schmid, Anne-Marie Slaughter, Wang Huiyao, Oliver Morton, Selwin Hart and Vanessa Nakate. Readers will find all contributions in this publication, on this website and in selected media such as Project Syndicate and Der Tagesspiegel.