A Climate Policy Nightmare Looms in the USA
Comment by Dennis Tänzler
News publ. 29. Sep 2022
The Berlin Climate and Security Conference (BCSC) is a global forum that brings together leading figures from governments, organisations and research who are working on the impacts of climate change on international peace and security. In October, the conference is back for its fourth edition.
The fourth edition of BCSC is entitled "Climate – Conflict – Clash of Crises: Weathering the Risks". BCSC 2022 will address climate impacts on peace and stability and its interlinkages with current geopolitical challenges, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, trade and energy security and the looming food crisis. The two-day conference at the German Federal Foreign Office in Berlin and the subsequent digital segment will focus on promoting inclusive, participatory and truly global approaches to climate-security risk-informed decision making and operations at the local, national, regional and multilateral level.
In the wake of various commitments to tackle climate security from international actors of the African Union to NATO, the conference will focus on three strategic goals: establishing informed responses to climate, peace and security as a top priority on international agendas including COP 27, advancing climate and conflict sensitive policies and operations on the ground and connecting people, knowledge and ideas across sectors, regions and disciplines to inform mutual and multilateral approaches.
Featuring a high-level political segment with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, the conference will take stock of the agenda for action set out in the Climate, Environment, Peace and Security Declaration and launch the Climate, Environment, Peace and Security Initiative, endorsed by G7 Foreign Ministers in May 2022.
BCSC’s innovative programme will include new and emerging issues and debates, such as how to tackle rising geopolitical tensions linked to climate justice and feminist foreign policy as part of the response to climate security risks. The sessions are designed to be inclusive and engaging, geared towards identifying practical steps to move from theory to action on climate related security risks. The discussions will be informed by the flagship Weathering Risk initiative and its impact-focused Peace Pillar.
The preliminary agenda for both the in-person and digital segments are now online. You can register for sessions during the digital segment (17-20 October) directly on the website. The Berlin Climate and Security Conference is organized by the German Foreign Office in partnership with adelphi.
Contact: vivekanandaadelphi [dot] de (Janani Vivekananda) handles overall coordination and partnerships. viehoffadelphi [dot] de (Alina Viehoff) and steinkrausadelphi [dot] de (Alexandra Steinkraus) are the organisational team at adelphi.