Rethinking EU Partnerships with the Global South

Partnerships between the EU and the Global South are essential for navigating increasingly complex climate geopolitics. For partner countries, they offer opportunities to drive economic growth, access clean technologies, and establish sustainable industrial sectors. For the EU, strong global partnerships are crucial to enhance economic resilience and competitiveness, ensuring access to critical materials and reinforcing its role in a multipolar world. Importantly, these partnerships are indispensable for achieving global climate targets. 

However, the EU’s approach to partnerships currently lacks a clear strategy, coherence, and the capacities to fulfil its potential. While the new European Commission is being set up, it is time for the EU to address the shortcomings of its approach and make partnerships a strategic instrument aligned with the interests of its partners and its own. In this policy brief, we outline the EU's current approach to climate partnerships, examine the portfolios of the relevant Commissioners, and make recommendations on how the EU can turn its partnerships into a strategic tool and make them more attractive to partners.