Climate resilience to strengthen our security: Impacts of global climate change on national security
When: 23 October 2025 | 15:20-16:30
Format: Breakout session
Climate change is not a distant threat but a present and growing challenge to national security and societal resilience. As climate impacts intensify, they interact with existing vulnerabilities, undermining critical infrastructure, straining economies, and increasing the risks of instability both within and beyond national borders. Germany’s pioneering National Interdisciplinary Climate Risk Assessment (NIKE), developed by a consortium comprising the German Federal Intelligence Service and scientific institutions, provides the first comprehensive analysis of how climate risks shape national security priorities. Commissioned under Germany’s National Security Strategy, the assessment highlights how climate-driven disruptions, from economic shocks and health threats to geopolitical tensions and resource scarcity, threaten resilience at national and European levels.
This session will introduce key findings from the NIKE and examine the vital links between climate resilience and security. Through comparative discussion of national perspectives, participants will explore the challenges and opportunities of integrating climate risk assessments and cross-sector collaboration into security policy. The aim is to identify practical pathways and policy approaches to embed climate resilience at the heart of national and international security agendas, ensuring that security policy keeps pace with a changing climate. The session will also serve to reflect on what next steps might help strengthen climate resilience as a core pillar of security policy at national and international levels.
Speakers:
- H.E. Amb. Anthony Agotha, EU Special Envoy for Climate and Environment, European External Action Service (EEAS)
- Matthew Hudson, Director Climate Diplomacy, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Australia
- Benjamin Pohl, Head of Climate Diplomacy and Security Programme, adelphi global
Moderated by Lauren Risi, Senior Fellow and Director of Environmental Security, Stimson Center
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