Enter the great volatility? Synthesizing a theory of ‘climateflation’ for international political economy

International Political Economy (IPE) has long viewed inflation as a central force driving instability. More recently, scholars have foregrounded climate change as a central theme of analysis for IPE. In this article, we undertake a theory synthesis of IPE work in the areas of inflation and climate change to outline how the discipline can advance our understanding of ‘Climateflation’ – the notion that the causes of climate change, its material consequences, and the efforts to mitigate it, are jointly and increasingly resulting in price volatility. We hypothesize that Climateflation will likely amplify other geopolitical economic stressors to drive mounting net economic costs and sporadic price shocks, contributing to a period marked by ‘Great Volatility’. Our work contributes a synthesized theoretical framework of existing IPE literature, demonstrating how the material realities of climate change, fossil fuel dependence, and clean energy transition are likely hampering the stability of the global political economy.