First, focusing on the United Nations' Green Climate Fund (GCF), an international organisation central to the green transition, the project investigates how competing European and Chinese geopolitical interests and approaches to development finance converge within multilateral climate governance. The EU's Global Gateway frames China as both a strategic partner, economic competitor and geostrategic rival. While climate cooperation remains one of the few domains in which their interests overlap, the energy transition intensifies competition over raw materials and geostrategic influence in developing countries.
Finally, embedded via a research stay at Yonsei University's Institute of East and West Studies, the project explores how 'multilateral states' such as South-Korea (re)position itself and mediate emerging aid paradigms in a new geopolitical context.
The project will be conducted through interview-based fieldwork in Seoul and Songdo (between February and May 2026).
For inquiries or in case of interest, please write to: anissa.bougrea@eui.eu.