Environmental Agendas, Geopolitical Ends: Climate Policy and Great Power Competition

Many formal climate change organizations operating in Western countries spend significant resources and policy time promoting broader anti-West narratives. While proclaiming themselves as champions of the environment, many function in practice as tools for America’s adversaries — above all the Chinese Communist Party. By coopting the climate agenda, Beijing works to weaken energy security in the West and raise productions costs, while their own country moves full steam ahead with cheaper and more reliable energy. Furthermore, climate organizations promoting anti-Western ideas and policies erode domestic cohesion, undermine energy independence, and weaken the United States diplomatically and economically. Some of the most radical have even called for eradication of the State of Israel. To examine this emerging challenge, Senior Fellow Dr. Michael Doran will convene a conversation with Research Fellow Zineb Riboua, Professor Brenda Shaffer—Research Faculty Member at the US Naval Postgraduate School and Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council—and Sam Cooper, an award-winning investigative journalist focusing on China-Canada relations. Together, they will explore how climate-linked institutions intersect with geopolitical competition with China and what this means for North American strategy moving forward.