Dialog for the Sake of Dialog: Obstacles to China–EU Climate and Environmental Cooperation

In light of the United States' withdrawal from and re‐entry into the Paris Agreement, climate relations between the European Union and China warrant closer inspection. As the second‐ and third‐largest cumulative emitters after the United States, their cooperation has a global impact. This paper assesses the current state of their climate and environmental engagement and analyzes post‐COVID‐19 obstacles affecting this dimension of their relations. Based on interview data, we show that the increasing institutionalization of climate and environmental cooperation has not resulted in improved outcomes. Instead, such engagement remains limited to dialog for the sake of dialog rather than substantive collaboration. We identify four key obstacles to cooperation: perceptual, capacity‐related, institutional, and interest‐based. This paper addresses pertinent questions about the viability and practicality of joint climate action in the context of rising geopolitical tensions. Our findings contribute to scholarship on global climate governance and EU–China relations, and we propose an analytical framework to inform future research and policy debate.