With the adoption of the Paris Agreement in 2015, governments around the world committed to reducing emissions and limiting global temperature rise to below 2°C above pre-industrial levels. However, even those with comprehensive, legally enshrined strategies are struggling to implement their own plans. This seminar will examine how the dynamics of the global political economy shape national bureaucracies and influence their ability to develop state capacity for implementing green transition strategies. Using Chile as a case study, we will explore how government agencies across three policy areas — green hydrogen, native forestry, and mining — have faced differing levels of effort in building the necessary state capacity for decarbonisation. Contrary to existing theories, which suggest that initiatives in sectors with strong incumbent require more targeted efforts to develop state capacity, our findings indicate that alignment with domestic growth constraints and access to financing for de-risking infrastructure investments play a more significant role. State capacity is often used to enhance project feasibility for potential investors, but limited state capacity in ‘unbankable’ policy areas undermines the realisation of carbon neutrality.