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Petrodollars to Renewables: Climate Geopolitics and the Arab Gulf States

Written by cida on .

Petrodollars to Renewables: Climate Geopolitics and the Arab Gulf States
Tobias Zumbrägel, Postdoctoral Researcher, Geography Institute, Heidelberg University

March 10, 2025

11:00am – 12:15pm

Mann 160 (inside Mann Library)

This talk explores the Arab Gulf states’ expanding influence in global climate geopolitics, focusing on their contributions to climate negotiations, finance mechanisms, and clean technology transfer to the Middle East and Central Asia. Additionally, it highlights their carbon offsetting initiatives, specifically targeting projects in Africa to balance emissions and support sustainable development. By critically examining these strategies, the talk sheds light on how the Gulf states are leveraging climate diplomacy and regional cooperation to position themselves as leaders in the global green transition while pursuing economic diversification.

Guest Speaker:

Dr. Tobias Zumbrägel has been a postdoc at Heidelberg’s Geography Institute since January 2023. Prior to this he worked as a researcher at the center for excellence Climate, Climatic Change and Society (CLICCS) at the University of Hamburg and the Germany-based think tank CARPO in Bonn. He studied History, Political Science and Middle Eastern Studies in Cologne, Tuebingen and Cairo and holds a Ph.D. (summa cum laude) from the Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg, which was awarded with the dissertation prize of the German Middle East Association. In 2022, his book titled Political Power and Environmental Sustainability in Gulf Monarchies was published. His specialties include energy transition, environmentalism, political ecology, geopolitics, authoritarianism, political legitimacy, international relations and security studies, and Middle Eastern studies.

This talk is co-hosted by Global Development and the Department of Natural Resources and the Environment. The talk will be followed directly by a lunch (12:30-1:30pm) hosted by the Atkinson Center for Sustainability.