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Track II Dialogues

The Aspen Institute Track II Dialogue process aims to foster trust and cooperation on climate and energy issues among two countries at the sub-government level through sustained, direct exchanges among influential members of civil society. These high-level delegations from each country consist of about 20-25 experts from industry, NGOs, academia, and the business community, with close ties to their respective governments, who are tasked with defining a constructive bilateral agenda on specific issues related to climate change and their national resilience and decarbonization agendas. The Dialogue seeks to enhance the strategic partnership between the two countries, improve bilateral interactions, and demonstrate genuine leadership on the core issues at hand.

Track II diplomacy allows for candid discussions among leaders and provides an avenue for maintaining and strengthening communication on critical issues and developing a deeper understanding of cultural context. When maintained over multiple years, Track II Dialogues allow trusted partners to help countries’ withstand political changes, as was demonstrated in the 2016 election when a change in U.S. leadership put the U.S.’s commitment to its climate goals into question and sustained dialogue through avenues like Track II Dialogues reinforced the country’s maintained engagement on climate globally.

Amidst an increasingly unpredictable international political environment, these Track II Dialogues will continue to be platforms for continuous communication and encouraging a better understanding of each country's climate priorities, barriers to action, and opportunities to increase climate ambition globally.

India-U.S. Track II Dialogue on Climate Change and Energy

Over the past 14 years, the Aspen Institute Energy & Environment program has convened a Track II Dialogue between the U.S. and India, which has applied this model to the U.S.-India cooperation around climate and energy challenges and opportunities. The Dialogue was launched in 2010 by John Podesta, with the aim of developing a unique and influential channel for bilateral exchanges on climate finance, water and climate resilience, hydrogen, and other key issues critical to climate and energy conversations among the two countries. The U.S. and Indian delegations sit in a uniquely impactful position in their capacity to feed recommendations into Track I, inform policy decisions, and influence the private sector, especially as many members of the U.S. delegation cycle in and out of the administration. Most recently, former co-chair John Podesta himself, having been called back into public service as Senior Advisor to the President for Clean energy Innovation and Implementation. Over the past decade, the program has also convened an influential U.S.-China Dialogue, similarly focused on bolstering climate resilience between the two countries.

Through annual meetings, in-person and virtually, and working groups that carry specific conversations and recommendations forward, the U.S.India Track II Dialogue has been influential in suggesting concrete pathways for collaboration between the governments and relevant subnational and nonstate actors, complementing and informing formal diplomatic relations, raising national climate ambitions, and digging into existing and potential implementation challenges and solutions. The Track II Dialogues consist of several days of prepared discussion on areas that can yield significant benefits to both sides. In the short term, participants concentrate on themes where pathways to cooperation are relatively straightforward. At the same time, to sustain long-term Dialogue, the Track II also addresses underlying official issues that can benefit from expert discussion and greater clarity.

The Track II Dialogue involves 24-28 prominent participants from India and the US, supported by professional program experts and convening staff from the Energy and Environment Program, Center for American Program, World Resources Institute and the Ananta Aspen Centre. Each Dialogue requires extensive preparation and is supported by a robust team of staff to carry out the logistics, develop the agenda, define deliverables, and establish key relationships and connections.