Zooming In and Out: Document Patterns and Geopolitical Context in EU–China Climate and Environmental Dialogues

The repeatedly shifting US stance on the Paris Agreement underscores the need to examine EU-China climate and environmental relations more closely, especially given their importance for sustaining global climate action. Within this relationship, the annual High-Level Environment and Climate Dialogues (HECDs), six to date, serve as key venues for signaling commitment and coordinating action. Yet their actual performance remains difficult to discern. Joint statements - if reached at all - are often vague and shaped by changing geopolitical contexts, while uneven document availability and linguistic discrepancies complicate assessments of whether cooperation is substantive or largely symbolic. This paper investigates the performative dimension of the HECDs from 2019 to 2025. Drawing on Ding’s theory of performative governance and practice theory in International Relations, it examines to what extent HECD outputs rely on symbolic performance, including win-win rhetoric, intention framing, and scripted diplomatic signaling, rather than concrete implementation and follow-up measures. The study analyzes joint statements and press releases from the six HECDs in English and Chinese, related documents, and semi-structured interviews conducted with policymakers and experts. By connecting patterns in the documents to changes in the broader political context, it demonstrates how the dialogues’ framing and performative scripts evolve in response to a rapidly shifting global political environment. Assessing the dialogues in terms of their public official outputs, it contributes to debates on EU-China relations, the impact of geopolitics on bilateral relations, and the performative dimensions of environmental diplomacy. The study offers an initial step toward clarifying what HECDs accomplish through closer engagement with actors on both sides, and it opens paths for research on diplomatic practices and geopolitics shape the future of EU-China climate and environmental relations.