World leaders gathered this week at the annual World Economic Forum (WEF) in the Swiss resort of Davos, as geopolitical tensions increasingly intersect with climate and energy challenges.
French President Emmanuel Macron used his address to warn that the world is drifting away from a rules-based international order — a shift he said carries serious consequences for peace, economic stability and climate action.
We are drifting away from a rules-based world order
Macron cautioned that the world is drifting away from a rules-based world order — a shift with wide-ranging implications for climate cooperation and the global energy transition.
While not mentioning him by name, there can be no doubt that this is a strong rebuff to US President Donald Trump, as the tensions around the Danish territory of Greenland are growing.
Trump has repeatedly stated that not only does the US desire to own Greenland, but it is an absolute necessity that it is under American ownership.
Survival of the fittest
Subsequently, NATO members have been rallying behind Denmark and Greenland, and as a consequence, Trump has flexed his economic muscle towards any country standing in his way, announcing stringent tariffs to come into effect on the 1st of February against countries not supporting US ownership of Greenland.
In the French president’s keynote address, which followed strong statements by other world leaders towards Trump’s Greenland rhetoric, stating: “The world is experiencing … a shift towards a world without rules, where international law is trampled underfoot and where the only law that seems to matter is that of the strongest.”
Macron expressed concerns that such rhetoric only strengthens global instability that could weaken coordinated responses to climate and energy transitions.
Geopolitical challenges weaken climate responsiveness
The French president argued this is not only a geopolitical concern but one that risks undermining collective action on climate change and energy governance, stressing that Europe and its partners must defend multilateralism and predictable cooperation in order to tackle shared challenges including climate change, innovation and investment, “We do believe that we need more growth, we need more stability in this world, but we do prefer respect to bullies … we do prefer rule of law to brutality,” he said.
He urged leaders not to be divided by “crazy ideas” but to focus on the “three global challenges”: peace, growth, and climate.
Cooperation, not division
Macron’s speech comes at a time when the Arctic region is commanding increasing attention.
As the climate crisis speeds up and Greenland and the wider Arctic region are melting faster than any other region in the world, it ironically also opens up for resource and mineral extraction that are the cause of the melting.
Macron concluded his speech by urging world leaders at Davos to prioritise multilateral cooperation and investment in climate action and innovation, warning that without predictable rules and collective governance, the global energy transition and climate action could be set back by competitive power politics.
Anders Lorenzen is the founding Editor of A greener life, a greener world.
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