The Global Political Economy of Climate Change

The contribution explores the climate transition through a global political economy perspective, analyzing the intersection between economics and political science. It examines the intense conflict between the traditional fossil energy paradigm and the emerging climate change paradigm, where public policy and science—rather than market prices alone—must drive structural change. Furthermore, the concept of the Global Carbon Budget is highlighted as a primary source of distributional tension and climate justice disputes between the Global North and Global South. The analysis also charts the evolution of the European Green Deal as it pivots toward green industrial policy, competitiveness, and strategic autonomy to counter geopolitical fragmentation. Ultimately, as state actors divide under renewed power politics, the momentum for sustainability increasingly shifts to socio-economic actors and civil society, raising the critical question of whether green technologies have finally crossed the tipping point into total irreversibility.