The View from Rome and Beyond
IAI - Istituto Affari Internazionali
Ideas for Italy, Europe and the world
Welcome back to Reshaping Multilateralism, a newsletter from the team at the Nexus25 project. Every month, we bring you the latest from the climate-security-migration nexus, with a particular focus on how to make multilateralism work for everyone - not just the Global North.?
After a busy week in NYC for Climate Week, the project released a new Reshaping Multilateralism podcast episode featuring senior U.S. government officials who were on the ground to discuss the national security risks of climate change and key events this fall - including the upcoming U.S. election.?
This month, we’re turning toward the first-ever Nexus25 conference. Next week, high-level stakeholders from both continents will travel to IAI Headquarters in Rome to assess the agri-food systems transformation and progress on the energy transition, all with the goals of building stronger - and more equitable - partnerships.?
These discussions come at a critical time for the EU-Africa relationship - and debates around the green transition more broadly. As Africa experiences high levels of drought and extreme weather events, they continue to face a disproportionate burden of the costs for climate adaptation, amounting to a UN-estimated 5% of their GDP. Furthermore, protracted conflicts in Sudan, Central African Republic, and beyond have amplified the impacts of climate change, acute food insecurity, migration, gender-based violence, and more.?
For European partners, after navigating a climate backlash of their own, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen recently called for a ‘new strategic approach’ to counter Russia and China’s growing influence on the continent. This is no small task. Instead, it will require a rethinking of the EU’s current engagement and investments in the region, which have often been unequal, driven by the EU’s strategic interests, and focused on the EU acquiring raw materials over Africa’s industrialization. As the impacts of climate change accelerate, shoring up food systems and supporting the energy transition will be core elements of this renewed relationship - as well as our upcoming discussions in Rome.
As we look forward to November, we’ll be keeping a close eye on COP29, where organizers have faced pushback on the host’s crackdown on civil society, their continued use of fossil fuels, and more. With the adoption of a new collective quantified goal on climate finance (NCQG) and other critical climate milestones on the agenda, it remains to be seen whether this year’s convening will lead to genuine progress - or simply be more of the same empty rhetoric and long security lines. Until then, we’ll be reading:?
Nexus25 is a joint initiative from global experts at Istituto Affari Internazionali and the Center for Climate and Security funded by Stiftung Mercator. For more from the Nexus25 team, go to www.nexus25.org for our full body of research or click the “subscribe” button in the upper right corner of the page.