Can science diplomacy address the global climate change challenge?

Science diplomacy has been used for the broad purpose of international knowledge management. Countries engage in science diplomacy to access and promote knowledge, as well as influence public opinion. Despite the rising interest in science diplomacy, there is very little research on how science diplomacy can be utilized to tackle global challenges such as climate change. This paper aims to bring developing countries in front and show how science and technology cooperation among developing countries and between developing and developed countries can address climate change problems. Looking from a science and technology policy lens and highlighting the difference between science diplomacy and epistemic communities, we investigate structured government attempts in initiating cooperation toward specific ends. This paper looks at five cases: Partnerships for Enhanced Engagement in Research (PEER), Middle East Regional Cooperation (MERC) Program, bilateral cooperation between Germany and China on electromobility, Islamic Development Bank (IDB) Reverse Linkage program, and The China South–South Climate Cooperation Fund. Then it builds a taxonomy on how science diplomacy is used in climate change mitigation and adaptation and attempts to make a synthesis of the cases. We argue that there is room for developing countries in international knowledge management if science diplomacy tools are properly designed and managed to take context-specific nature of countries into account.