African Agency in Climate Governance - Carl Death | Ep. 14 (2026)

This episode explores African agency in global climate governance, moving beyond narratives that portray African states solely as vulnerable recipients of climate policy. Drawing on debates in International Relations, environmental politics, and African climate futures, Dr Carl Death examines how African actors negotiate, contest, and reimagine climate governance across local, continental, and global arenas. Carl DeathCarl Death is a Senior Lecturer in International Political Economy at the University of Manchester. His research focuses on environmental politics in Africa, with a particular interest in critical and postcolonial approaches. Publications:The Green Economy in South Africa: Global Discourses and Local PoliticsFour Discourses of the Green Economy in the Global SouthGreen States in Africa: Beyond the Usual SuspectsAfricanfuturist Socio‐Climatic Imaginaries and Nnedi Okorafor’s Wild NecropoliticsClimate Fiction, Climate Theory: Decolonising Imaginations of Global FuturesUnfamiliar Families and Disturbing Climate FuturesNarrating Transitions to Low Carbon Futures: The Role of Long-Term Strategies in Fossil Fuel Producing Emerging EconomiesAfrican Climate FuturesContent00:00 – Introduction02:30 – African agency in global climate governance: realities versus stereotypes10:21 – Writing climate transition differently: fiction as method13:32 – Universal models and African political economies18:04 – Pan-Africanism and coordination in climate governance23:25 – Key actors in Africa’s climate and energy transition27:19 – Climate fiction and African agency: insights from fifteen authors32:49 – Selection and context of African climate fiction38:37 – Postcolonial, feminist, and queer perspectives on African climate futures43:47 – Ecopolitical imaginaries explained48:01 – Beyond limited case studies in African climate scholarship54:51 – Challenges in writing the book58:51 – Local politics and environmental governance01:02:25 – Civil society and grassroots climate action01:08:59 – Under-researched areas in African climate politics Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.