2026 international climate negotiations & recent developments in EU, USA & China climate change policies (plus an Aotearoa NZ perspective)

Apr 17, 2025

In April 2024, we had a public policy seminar on the 2026 international climate negotiations and recent developments in EU, USA and China climate change policies - plus a discussion of climate policies in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Prof. Miranda Schreurs (University of Michigan) presented this seminar and Kay Harrison provided an Aotearoa perspective. Prof. Schreurs is Chair of Climate and Environmental Policy at the Munich School of Politics and Public Policy, Technical University of Munich. Kay Harrison was Aotearoa New Zealand’s Climate Change Ambassador until July 2024.

Prof. Schreurs explored:

• the European Green Deal and the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism
• the impacts of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on European energy policies
• what the second Trump administration’s anti-science, anti-climate policies could mean for the global climate negotiations
• the role China may play in addressing climate change as it expands its influence throughout Southeast Asia and Africa.

Kay Harrison responded with an examination of climate policies in Aotearoa.

Here is Prof. Miranda Schreurs's presentation.

Here is the recording of the seminar.

About the speakers

Prof. Miranda Schreurs (University of Michigan) is Chair of Climate and Environmental Policy at the Munich School of Politics and Public Policy, Technical University of Munich.

She investigates environmental movements, green politics and climate policy making, both comparatively and internationally.

She has lived and researched in Europe, the Unites States and Asia. She also specialises in the politics surrounding the disposal of highly radioactive waste. 

In 2011, Prof. Schreurs was appointed by Chancellor Angela Merkel as a member of the Ethics Committee for a secure energy supply. In 2016, she was appointed by the German Bundestag as a member of a committee established to bring citizens' voices and ensure greater transpareny in a search for a disposal site for highly radioactive waste. She was a member of the German Council on the Environment (2008-16) and served both as Vice-Chair and Chair of the European Advisory Council on Environment and Sustainable Development. 

Prof. Schreurs was a Fullbright Fellow to Japan and Germany and spent three years studying at the John F Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. She also worked as a professor of comparative studies at the University of Maryland. From 2007 to 2016 she was the Director of the Environmental Policy Research Center and Professor of Comparative Policy at the Free University of Berlin.

Kay Harrison is a New Zealander who works in the fight against climate change. Until July 2024 she was New Zealand’s Climate Change Ambassador. Kay represented Aotearoa New Zealand at international climate change meetings, summits and negotiations. She led New Zealand’s delegation to meetings of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Paris Agreement.

Kay now continues to seek solutions to the climate crisis by supporting nations and organisations that seek just outcomes, cooperation and dialogue for our shared future. She works globally, within the region and in coalitions on all areas of climate action including: enhanced ambition through cooperation in carbon markets; effective climate financing; and sustainable agriculture.

Kay was a Harkness Fellow at Harvard University at the Kennedy School of Government.

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Thanks to The Treasury, Stats NZ and EECA for their generous support.