She argues that nationalist power politics, remilitarization, and geo-economic competition dominate in the Global North, while the major per capita emitters fail to pursue consistent, long-term climate policies. At the same time, she points out that democratic middle-income countries in the Global South – led by Brazil as COP host and South Africa as G20 presidency country – are showing greater willingness to take responsibility and engage in multilateral cooperation.
Prof. Dr. Hornidge assesses the results of the COP in Brazil as limited so far: Although no agreement has been reached on phasing out fossil fuels, the adoption of the Belém Mechanism is an important, albeit insufficient, step forward. Against this backdrop, she argues that Europe, and Germany in particular, should build strategic alliances with middle powers in Latin America, Africa, and Asia around common goals such as ecological transformation and global justice in order to create new coalitions for more ambitious climate policy.