Policy brief
Published:
Strategic Climate Balancing: What the International Community Can Do as the United States Steps Back
Written by
Hayley Pring
Ed.
Summary:
The United States’ withdrawal from international climate institutions under the second Trump administration poses a serious challenge to global climate cooperation. Given the scale of US emissions and the dismantling of federal climate capacity, the international community cannot depend on a future policy reversal in Washington. Instead, this policy brief advances a strategy of “climate balancing” that seeks to sustain decarbonisation by working around the US federal government.
Climate balancing focuses on three priorities: direct engagement with US states and cities that continue to pursue ambitious climate action; the construction of industrial alliances that leverage clean energy constituencies through tools such as coordinated carbon pricing and border adjustment mechanisms; and reframing climate action as a matter of energy security and geopolitical competition, particularly in light of China’s growing dominance in clean energy supply chains. Together, these measures aim to limit free-rider dynamics, preserve momentum in global climate governance, and keep the conditions for eventual US re-engagement open, demonstrating that effective climate cooperation can persist even in the absence of US federal leadership.
Climate balancing focuses on three priorities: direct engagement with US states and cities that continue to pursue ambitious climate action; the construction of industrial alliances that leverage clean energy constituencies through tools such as coordinated carbon pricing and border adjustment mechanisms; and reframing climate action as a matter of energy security and geopolitical competition, particularly in light of China’s growing dominance in clean energy supply chains. Together, these measures aim to limit free-rider dynamics, preserve momentum in global climate governance, and keep the conditions for eventual US re-engagement open, demonstrating that effective climate cooperation can persist even in the absence of US federal leadership.
- Published year: 2026
- Publisher: NUPI
- Language: English
- Journal: NUPI Policy Brief
Written by
Hayley Pring