Who: High-level political actors, climate security experts, international organisations and practitioners.

What: Since its inaugural edition in 2019, the annual Berlin Climate and Security Conference (BCSC) has become the global forum connecting governments, international organisations, experts, and practitioners working to promote interlinkages between different approaches within the climate and security agenda whilst also critically interrogating complex new challenges like securing critical minerals for a conflict-sensitive energy transition while discussing how high COP28 expectations on mitigation, adaptation, finance and Loss and Damage can be realised.

When: 6 October 2023 (In-person, invitation only); Online sessions will take place on 16, 23 and 30 October. 

Where: The in-person segment of BCSC took place in Berlin at the German Federal Foreign Office. 

Why: To promote, coordinate and advance concrete climate security approaches and initiatives to drive action and implementation efforts.

This fifth edition of BCSC was entitled Building a Climate for Peace and convened policy makers, decision makers, and climate security experts from across the world. With no time to lose to accelerate climate action ahead of COP28, the conference focused on three strategic goals to ensure that climate action and sustainable peace go hand in hand:

• Solutions for fragile contexts: Identifying ways to promote more accessible and conflict sensitive climate solutions (including finance) for fragile and conflict-affected communities in the lead up to COP 28 and beyond;
• Tools and knowledge: Spotlighting tools, resources, and capacities to advance integration of climate and conflict sensitive analysis and policies into operations and programming on the ground;
• Incentives: Connecting people, knowledge and ideas across sectors, regions and disciplines to strengthen synergies between mutual and multilateral approaches and initiatives.

The conference examined best practice examples of locally informed risk analysis, policy-making and implementation to advance contextually informed climate security action in response to intensifying and interconnected global crises. Being motivated by the urgent need to promote, coordinate and advance concrete climate security approaches and initiatives to drive action and implementation efforts, BCSC 2023 sought to:

• Showcase best practice of context specific, community driven and participatory climate and conflict sensitive policies and operations;
• Build awareness of and capacity to use risk and foresight assessments and climate security decision-making tools and how to translate it into peace building action;
• Connect the dots between lived experiences of climate change, existing resources and insufficient disbursement, expertise and technical skills;
• Facilitate expert discussion on new, emerging themes and challenges on the climate security horizon;
• Link climate action and security objectives and identify how the role of the defence sector can adapt.