Germany’s Strategy on Climate Foreign Policy: Balancing Sustainable Development and Energy Security
With the war in Ukraine, Germany’s “traffic light” coalition government has had to adapt its climate policy to the upheavals caused by this war, which has turned its economic, energy, and military model upside down. Against a backdrop of high energy costs and increasing calls for reshoring in Europe, German industry is looking at how to maintain its competitiveness while decarbonizing its industry.
The World Through the Lens of Ukraine
This issue of Politique étrangère looks at three conflicts currently unfolding around the world.
A Splintered Internet? Internet Fragmentation and the Strategies of China, Russia, India and the European Union
From the Covid-19 pandemic to the ramifications of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, international events are fueling fears of an accelerated fragmentation of the global Internet.
How Can the Green Deal Adapt to a Brutal World?
The European Green Deal has not been planned for the current extraordinarily deteriorated internal and external environment. Russia’s war in Ukraine, higher interest rates, inflation, strained public finances, weakened value chains, and lack of crucial skills pose unprecedented challenges.
Central Asia: Making Use of a Historic Opportunity
This report analyzes the economic and geopolitical situation in Central Asia.
Thorns and Alliances. German, French and European Agricultural Policy Between Food Safety and Respect for the Environment
Influences and developments within German agricultural policy have undergone significant transformations over the past 70 years, especially in the context of the dynamic Franco-German relations and the pivotal role both nations play in shaping the European Union’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).
Climate, Finance, and Geopolitics: Human Self-delusions and the Challenges for Europe
The combination of geopolitical tensions, climate disruption, and the growing role of finance in the economy is taking us into uncharted territory. Until recently, each of these subjects was handled separately, but they are now inextricably linked by two shared characteristics: the gravity of the threat, and the fact that they all lay bare the scale of human self-delusions.
The South versus the West?
In 2023, forums that amplify the voice of the “Global South” have proliferated and grown louder. As contradictory and divided as they may be, these forums (BRICS+, Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), G20, the Group of 77, the European Silk Road Summit…) attest to the emergence of new power relations, and especially new directions in foreign policy, with states rejecting alignment with the dominant powers of the past in favor of putting their own interests first. A new world is taking shape, with changeable, still uncertain, contours.
Critical Minerals: A Problematic Diversification
Faced with the boom in demand for metal resources generated by the latest technology, the United States and Europe have been forced to revise the geography of their supply networks, which is synonymous with strategic dependency.
COP28: Daunting Stakes and Pivotal Decisions on the Table
The UN climate conference in Dubai faces a moment of troubled geopolitical agenda lowering the focus on the climate emergency, but natural ecosystems will not wait for human decisions. A challenging test for the survival of diplomacy.
Decarbonizing European Cities: How to Speed Up and Build Synergies?
Cities are on the front line for enabling governments to meet their commitments under the Paris Agreement. Although cities occupy only 2% of the earth’s surface, they are home to between 50 and 60% of the world’s population (70% by 2050 according to the United Nations), account for two-thirds of the world’s energy consumption and emit 80% of CO2. As an example, the CO2 emissions of the city of Berlin are equal to those of Croatia, Jordan or the Dominican Republic. New York’s total annual CO2 emissions are roughly equivalent to those of Bangladesh. Yet their central role not only for adaptation, but also mitigation, has been recognized lately.
COP28: A Tale of Money, Fossil Fuels, and Divisions
“Humanity has opened the gates of hell”, said the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres during the Climate Ambition Summit, in New York, in September 2023, three months before COP28. The sense of urgency that he conveyed seems shared across the international community.
New Impulses for Stagnant Relationships - German-French Ministerial Council Meets in a New Format
As the doors of the illustrious Hôtel Beauharnais on Rue de Lille 78 swung open on the evening of 4 October, and the masses streamed into the German Embassy in Paris to celebrate German Unity Day, the reports of the currently strained state of Franco-German relations seemed almost surreal.
Balancing Security and Openness for Critical Technologies: Challenges for French and European Research
While matters related to research security and international partnerships in critical domains are certainly not new, they have become increasingly central to governments, research institutions and industry since the turn of the 2020s.
Towards a New European Trade Strategy in Times of Geopolitical Upheaval: The German Perspective
As one of the most successful trading blocs, the EU sees itself confronted with the erosion of the global rules-based trading system and trade becoming increasingly weaponized.
Global Coal Markets at a Climax. An Era of Coal Decline is Finally about to Begin
In a previous note published in 2018, we noted that global coal demand had flattened. Several governments had announced coal phase-out plans, global coal power investment had contracted, and investment in greenfield coal mines was also at a standstill. The freezing of financial resources for coal projects might have indicated the beginning of a structural decline in coal demand and supply.
EU-Mercosur: An Unsolvable Trilemma Between Competition Rules, Normative Ambitions and Supply Chain Diversification
The EU-Mercosur trade deal was believed to be heading toward the finish. The election of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva as the president of Brazil, as successor to the right-wing populist Jair Bolsonaro, and the Spanish presidency of the European Union (EU), raised hopes for its conclusion. But the reservations expressed by several EU member states and some Latin American countries have dashed hopes.
Ethics and Responsibility in Space Exploration: The Rise of Soft Law to Regulate New Practices
Europe: Turning to the Union to Respond to Citizens
To deal with the internal and external challenges of a new era, the European Union must reform its institutions: review Member States' right of veto, strengthen the Commission, and take action on foreign policy and security matters, energy, the single market and the economy, social policy, health and immigration—while at the same time considering expansion. This is the only way for the Union to preserve the values of freedom and democracy that underlie European integration.
European Union: A Geopolitical Illusion?
The European Union (EU) is holding firm in the face of the war in Ukraine—perhaps better than expected. But what long-term effects will the war have on European institutions and policies? The institutions will need to be changed to cope with the forthcoming expansions. The EU has certainly made progress toward common industrial and technological policies. But will this dynamic do away with a conception of strategic autonomy, encompassing both diplomacy and strategy? The European Union, which will undoubtedly be a key mover of future changes for the continent, remains largely uncertain in terms of its future configurations.
Global Gateway: Towards a European External Climate Security Strategy?
Transport, energy, water and telecommunications infrastructures are vital for economic development. These infrastructures are also fundamental for the achievement of the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which have suffered a setback notably due to the Covid-19 pandemic, wars, and weak economic performance. Based on the Global Infrastructure Outlook, the world needs 97 trillion dollars ($) in infrastructure investments (energy, water, airports, ports, rail, road, and telecommunications) over 2016-2040, and based on the current investment trends ($79 trillion over the given period), the cumulative global infrastructure investment gap amounts to $18 trillion.
How Can the Green Deal Adapt to a Brutal World?
The European Green Deal has not been planned for the current extraordinarily deteriorated internal and external environment. Russia’s war in Ukraine, higher interest rates, inflation, strained public finances, weakened value chains, and lack of crucial skills pose unprecedented challenges.
Central Asia: Making Use of a Historic Opportunity
This report analyzes the economic and geopolitical situation in Central Asia.
Thorns and Alliances. German, French and European Agricultural Policy Between Food Safety and Respect for the Environment
Influences and developments within German agricultural policy have undergone significant transformations over the past 70 years, especially in the context of the dynamic Franco-German relations and the pivotal role both nations play in shaping the European Union’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).
COP28: Daunting Stakes and Pivotal Decisions on the Table
The UN climate conference in Dubai faces a moment of troubled geopolitical agenda lowering the focus on the climate emergency, but natural ecosystems will not wait for human decisions. A challenging test for the survival of diplomacy.
Decarbonizing European Cities: How to Speed Up and Build Synergies?
Cities are on the front line for enabling governments to meet their commitments under the Paris Agreement. Although cities occupy only 2% of the earth’s surface, they are home to between 50 and 60% of the world’s population (70% by 2050 according to the United Nations), account for two-thirds of the world’s energy consumption and emit 80% of CO2. As an example, the CO2 emissions of the city of Berlin are equal to those of Croatia, Jordan or the Dominican Republic. New York’s total annual CO2 emissions are roughly equivalent to those of Bangladesh. Yet their central role not only for adaptation, but also mitigation, has been recognized lately.
COP28: A Tale of Money, Fossil Fuels, and Divisions
“Humanity has opened the gates of hell”, said the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres during the Climate Ambition Summit, in New York, in September 2023, three months before COP28. The sense of urgency that he conveyed seems shared across the international community.
Towards a New European Trade Strategy in Times of Geopolitical Upheaval: The German Perspective
As one of the most successful trading blocs, the EU sees itself confronted with the erosion of the global rules-based trading system and trade becoming increasingly weaponized.
Global Coal Markets at a Climax. An Era of Coal Decline is Finally about to Begin
In a previous note published in 2018, we noted that global coal demand had flattened. Several governments had announced coal phase-out plans, global coal power investment had contracted, and investment in greenfield coal mines was also at a standstill. The freezing of financial resources for coal projects might have indicated the beginning of a structural decline in coal demand and supply.
Fiscal Policy in France and Germany: Insurmountable Differences?
The state of public finances in France and Germany is often compared. Germany is considered a model of rigor, through its ability to contain its deficits and generate surpluses, particularly between 2012 and 2019, thanks to the introduction into its constitution of a debt brake mechanism.
Between Inertia and Openness. Germany Reforms Its Labor Immigration System
With its new Skilled Immigration Act (Fachkräfteeinwanderungsgesetz) of 23 June 2023, Germany aims to become the country with "the most modern immigration law in Europe". A new points system and new entry rules for experienced workers having a degree from their home country demonstrate the willingness of the German government to open up its labor market to third-country nationals. While immigration law was already the subject of a previous reform in 2020, the new law is a real paradigm shift in Germany’s migration policy.
Is International Climate Finance Unfair and Inefficient?
Finance is arguably the most sensitive climate negotiation topic. Different studies have shown that rich countries emit the majority of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, while the climate footprint of the poorest countries is much more limited.
Higher Renewable Energy Targets in Germany: How Will the Industry Benefit?
“Deutschland – Einstieg in die Deindustrialisierung?” – “Germany, the beginning of deindustrialisation?” asked the German economic newspaper Handelsblatt in the context of the spike in energy prices that has put at risk thousands of companies across Germany in 2022. Whereas some sectors such as steel, glass and chemicals have been seriously hit, the manufacturing industries operating in the areas linked to the energy transition (such as renewable energies and hydrogen production) should benefit from decisions taken to reach climate neutrality.
Geoengineering to the climate's rescue? Issues, actors and perspectives of an anthropocene symbol
Geoengineering is a catchword for a wide range of techniques, and it is becoming an international issue that will grow in importance as the costs of certain technologies fall or as greenhouse gas emissions continue to decline, making these techniques more attractive.
The European Union Industrial Strategy: Reconciling Competition and Geoeconomic Challenges
The EU’s basic assumptions, on which it grounds its economic and trade power, are being steadily cast into doubt. The EU’s main trade partners, the US and China, increasingly set their sights on securing their supply chains, which may further a potential decoupling.
The Sino-Lithuanian Crisis: Going beyond the Taiwanese Representative Office Issue
The year 2021 marked the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Lithuania. Instead of commemorative events and customary lofty rhetoric, the bilateral relationship rapidly plunged to a level rarely seen in either country’s foreign policies since the end of the Cold War.
The Missing Guest: Energy Efficiency in the Multilateral Energy Arena
Since the 1970s, energy efficiency has gained visibility as a low hanging fruit – its potential impact on critical issues such as climate change, energy security, or competitiveness is now widely acknowledged, even more so in times of higher energy prices.
Towards Tougher Bilateral Relations Between EU and China
When politics catches up to the economy. In the wake of the EU-China summit, what can we expect from the bilateral relations? 2020 was supposed to be the year of EU-China relations. However, the Covid-19 pandemic has quickly disrupted the positive expectations.
Norway as a Decarbonization Hub for the European Union
The European Union (EU) is committed to reach climate neutrality by 2050. Similarly, Norway aims to create a zero-emission society by that same year.
The Green Deal’s External Dimension. Re-Engaging with Neighbors to Avoid Carbon Walls
The European Union (EU)’s Green Deal is a game changer with attention so far focused on forthcoming actions plans, the Climate Law, financial resources, the revision of the 2030 targets and of the emissions trading system (ETS).
Ifri, a foundation recognized as being of public utility, relies largely on private donors – companies and individuals – to guarantee its sustainability and intellectual independence. Through their funding, donors help maintain the Institute's position among the world's leading think tanks. By benefiting from an internationally recognized network and expertise, donors refine their understanding of geopolitical risk and its consequences on global politics and the economy. In 2026, Ifri partners with over 90 French and international companies and organizations.
