Game Changer

For over seven decades, the United States and Europe have been in lockstep to build and uphold a post-war liberal world order, founded on shared democratic principles and a strong transatlantic commitment. Not least in the realm of climate policy, both players have formed a decisive axis for driving global ambition, with their joint leadership proving instrumental in the successful negotiation of the 2015 Paris Accord. Merely ten years later, however, the partnership has entered a new era of divergence under a more transaction-minded U.S. administration, prompting necessary strategic realignment within the bilateral framework. One of the most consequential areas where this shift has manifested is the green transition. While Europe, and Germany in particular, continues to position itself at the forefront of climate action, its stewardship faces growing pressure from domestic right-wing political movements that contribute to a weakening consensus on broader sustainable development objectives. Across the Atlantic, on the other hand, the United States has historically played a comparatively non-linear role in this regard. Despite climate and environmental policy having been a partisan issue since the 1980s, the incumbent administration’s executive rollback of numerous related regulations, couples with a renewed emphasis on fossil fuel production, has exacerbated this polarization and, in a second instance, precipitated the present geopolitical bifurcation. Yet this comes at a time when swift and coordinated mitigation efforts are critical, underscoring the need for a comprehensive approach to transatlantic climate diplomacy rather than isolationism.

Therefore, identifying potential levers to reinvigorate U.S.-EU cooperation beyond the federal level is crucial to maintain the green momentum. In this context, business, understood as a constellation of market-based entities and practices, offers a tangible and resilient channel for sustaining engagement between the two players. Driven by shared commercial objectives rather than political alignment, economic networks have the potential to bridge diverging agendas, and, when centered on green industrial incentives, establish common ground for a renewed bilateral dialogue on sustainability. Thus, by re-framing climate diplomacy from an economic perspective, sub-national and corporate actors may act as the principal agents driving transatlantic relations in the years to come.

In order to translate this shift in agency into implementable progress, however, a catalyst is needed – one that captures public attention at large and offers ample opportunity for synergies in the private sector. Against this backdrop, the 2026 FIFA Men’s World Cup hosted in North America (United States, Canada, and Mexico) emerges not merely as a monumental sporting series, but as a significant soft power asset. More than once, it has been demonstrated that sports diplomacy possesses the capacity to strengthen interactions across a range of settings, including economic and political spheres, which is why these events can be regarded as microcosms of global governance that provide level playing fields for collective action. With an expanded field of 48 teams competing in 104 matches across the three host nations, the impending tournament will be the largest in FIFA’s history and, through its “We Are 26” identity, is envisioned to be both a celebration of diversity, as well as a medium for shared narratives and transnational engagement.

In light of these dynamics, the following brief entails a set of proposals aimed at operationalizing the aforementioned potentials.