A climate for security, freedom and prosperity

Climate change continues to fundamentally reshape the international peace and security landscape. As the world confronts growing instability – driven by intensifying climate impacts, resource pressures, geopolitical realignments, and the erosion of multilateral norms – the need for integrated, cross-sectoral responses has never been more urgent. Climate change is intensifying existing conflicts and threatening to trigger new ones, driving up downstream economic costs as extreme weather events and environmental destruction undermine supply chains, critical infrastructure, and – ultimately – security, freedom, and prosperity. Rising defence expenditures risk crowding out investment in human security, climate resilience, and sustainable development. It is therefore critical to reframe and rethink how hard security, human security, and climate action can be pursued together, reenforcing each other rather than in competition.

Since its inaugural edition in 2019, the annual Berlin Climate and Security Conference (BCSC) has established itself as the leading global forum connecting governments, international organisations, researchers, civil society, and practitioners working at the intersection of climate change, peace, and security. Building on the momentum of BCSC-New York – convened in April at the German Permanent Mission to the UN, – the eighth annual BCSC will identify practical solutions to the defining climate security challenges of our time.

The conference will aim to:

1.    Accelerate the integration of climate security risk into decision-making across sectors and governance levels – bringing insights from BCSC-New York 2026 into dialogue with defence and security actors, civil society, researchers, the private sector, and finance communities, with a view to informing COP31, the UN Water Conference and other international fora;

2.    Build concrete coalitions and partnerships that bridge traditional divides – between diplomacy, defence, and development; between multilateral commitments and national action; and between established and emerging actors – advancing cross-sectoral cooperation on energy security, the just transition, and climate-positive reconstruction in conflict-affected contexts;

3.    Generate actionable policy and financing recommendations that translate political will into delivery – identifying practical pathways to mobilise finance in fragile contexts, connect climate security assessments to prevention and financing, and strengthen the capacity of a wide range of actors to integrate climate risk into their core mandates;

4.    Show that national security and human security need to be considered together– making the case that investing in climate resilience, human security, and sustainable development strengthens hard security, and building the evidence base to shift political and institutional thinking accordingly.

With world class climate, peace and security expertise in attendance, beyond the main conference day BCSC 2026 will also provide the opportunity for side events, strategic meetings and networking with groups such as the Climate for Peace Initiative, the Climate Security Expert Network, the Strategic Advisory Board of Weathering Risk, the Baku Climate and Peace Action Hub and the EU group of friends on climate & security.