2 Petrostates and political groups
States whose political or economic power depends on fossil fuels. These actors often use diplomatic, financial, or media channels to delay global climate policy and strategically construct narratives that protect their interests.
Petrostates
Petrostates are countries whose political or economic power depends on fossil fuels. These actors often use diplomatic, financial, or media channels to delay global climate action and strategically construct media narratives that protect their interests.
Efforts to address the climate crisis repeatedly encounter resistance from countries whose economies rely on the extraction and export of oil and gas. These so-called petrostates—led by Saudi Arabia and Russia, but to some extent also the United States—employ a wide range of diplomatic and economic strategies aimed at delaying or weakening climate targets.
Wordplay and Techno-Optimism
Within the United Nations and at international climate conferences, one of the key tactics is the active blocking of ambitious wording. Saudi Arabia and Russia, for example, consistently seek to remove the term “phase-out” (ending fossil fuels) and instead promote the vaguer term “phase-down” (gradual reduction). These linguistic maneuvers are highly significant: the language of international agreements sets the framework for future negotiations.
Another crucial strategy is the promotion of technological fixes, such as carbon capture, which allow for a continued fossil fuel extraction under the promise of reduced emissions. This tactic helps ease international pressure towards a concrete end date for fossil fuels and creates space for the continuation of exports and the economic stability of these states.
Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia has long been known for its systematic obstructionism in international climate negotiations. For more than three decades, it has actively slowed progress, resisted restrictions on fossil fuels, and questioned climate science in UN fora. A key tactic is the exploitation of procedural rules, such as insistence on consensus, which gives disproportionate influence to countries striving to block progress.
Russia
Russia’s policy is shaped by the close interconnection between the state and the fossil fuel industry. Climate measures are perceived as a threat to economic stability and to political elites. Russia’s commitments under the Kyoto Protocol and the Paris Agreement are widely regarded as critically insufficient, while Moscow often argues that global warming could also bring economic benefits, for example by opening access to Arctic resources.
Fossil infrastructure of the Russian Federation
United States
At various points, the United States has hindered global climate efforts, primarily under the influence of a powerful oil and gas lobby. Since the 1990s, industrial actors have systematically funded academics and organizations that reinforced the perception that climate policy is too costly and impractical. As a result, the United States refused to ratify the Kyoto Protocol, repeatedly reduced financial contributions to international climate funds, and during certain administrations—particularly under George W. Bush and Donald Trump—weakened climate targets. These actions significantly slowed global climate efforts and strengthened the negotiating position of other petrostates.
The common denominator of all these strategies is the deep economic dependence of petrostates on fossil fuels. Diplomatic obstruction, manipulation of treaty language, procedural tactics, and “greenwashing” through technological solutions result in climate targets that remain vague and far less ambitious than the urgency of the situation would require.