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Event | 8 September 2023

NEVER: Climate politics and great power competition

Climate change Diplomacy Emerging technologies NEVER Global Security NEVER

Members of the NEVER network convened on Thursday, the 24th of August, to discuss climate change, climate change governance, and the role of great power competition in aggravating this existential risk, with NEVER coordinator, Edan Simpson, chairing the meeting.

The gathered members heard from ELN Senior Associate Fellow, former British Ambassador to Afghanistan, and former regional COP26 Ambassador for the United Kingdom, Sir Laurie Bristow, on his long career in diplomacy and his core takeaways from the realm of climate diplomacy specifically.

This was followed by presentations from NEVER members, Jieqiong Duan and Anna Clara Botto about their work in the climate change space. Jieqiong discusses her work as a Ph.D. candidate on global climate governance and the approach of global powers like the EU, China and the US. Clara presented her work on climate change technologies, specifically in regard to Solar Radiation Modification.

After the presentations, NEVER members contributed to a lively group discussion that can be watched in full in this video.

Watch the full video here.

The opinions articulated above represent the views of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the position of the European Leadership Network or any of its members. The ELN’s aim is to encourage debates that will help develop Europe’s capacity to address the pressing foreign, defence, and security policy challenges of our time.

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