The European Elections in June 2024 defined the power balance in the new European Parliament, which subsequently elected the new EU Commission President. The incoming European Commission set the agenda for the remainder of the “critical decade”. Forging strong partnerships with other nations was important for catalysing and enhancing climate ambition. At the same time, this new Commission oversaw the implementation of key Green Deal legislation with extraterritorial impacts (i.e., the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), the Critical Raw Materials Act (CRMA), the Green Deal Industrial Plan (GDIP)). Commission officials faced the delicate task of explaining and communicating these policies to other countries while creating new alliances in a complex geopolitical landscape. To be successful, the EU needed to make climate diplomacy a key foreign policy priority and mobilise and coordinate all its institutional structures to drive greater international climate ambition.

The main goal of the project was to facilitate recommendations for reforms to the institutional structure of the European Commission and associated agencies to highlight climate action considerations across all channels of the European Union’s foreign policy. The primary focus was on analysing processes and decision-making procedures within the diverse EU Institutions, including associated bodies, as well as fostering coordination among these institutions and between the EU and its Member States.