This document summarizes a presentation given by Céline Charveriat of IEEP on Europe's evolving approach to climate, peace and security. It discusses how pressure on natural resources is increasingly seen as a security challenge and how climate change is recognized as a contributing factor to conflicts. It also outlines IEEP's recommendations for the EU to adopt a more comprehensive and prevention-oriented approach to these issues through policies integrating environmental risks, climate diplomacy, and development assistance.

1. The Geo Political Climate for Climate Change:
Europe’s evolving approach to climate, peace
and security
Céline Charveriat, IEEP
Global Think Tank Summit 2018
Thursday 8th November 2018

2. www.ieep.eu @IEEP_eu
Environment and Security
• Pressure on and competition over natural resources
is increasingly considered as one of the key peace
and security challenges of the 21st century: 3 planet
earths needed by 2050 if 10 billion people adopt
European lifestyles.
• Percolating to decision-makers: Increasing
recognition by UNSC that climate change and
environmental degradation are contributing factors.
E.g. G7/UNSC action for Lake Chad.
• Progress in knowledge: multidisciplinary research
for assessing risk: e.g. composite climate
vulnerability index *.
* Composite vulnerability - model 1. Climate-Related Hazard Exposure +
Population Density + Household & Community Resilience + Governance.

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The European Context:
a rapidly changing picture
• Growing emphasis on climate diplomacy and increasing
awareness of the environment as contributing factor to
instability, population movements and war
• Building of a common European defence: tectonic shifts
following changes in policy in the US and Brexit
• Forthcoming SDG reflection paper: reframing Europe’s
agenda ahead of Sibiu?
• Changing nature of ODA: access to energy for all;
resilience strategy for fragile states; climate finance;
migration control; securitisation
• Upcoming elections: politicized issue of migration and
climate change

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Environment and security - EU
• The EU Global Strategy (2016) - a good basis for the
integration of environment into security, paving the
way towards a more holistic regime and interaction
between the foreign, security and defence elements of
the policy framework.
• Integration of environment into the EU foreign,
defence and security frameworks plays a critical role in
enabling EU to make good on its promise to the 2030
Sustainable Development Goals
• A prevention-oriented, holistic and ecosystem-based
approach to security questions supports the delivery of
multiple SDGs beyond the dedicated goal on peaceful
societies (SDG16) including SDGs on hunger, water,
climate and ecosystem conservation.

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#think2030 Recommendations on Peace and Security
• Adopt a comprehensive horizon scanning and early warning system for environmental and climate change
risks for Europe’s neighborhood and other regions of strategic interest.
• Broaden the scope and increase the ambition of European climate diplomacy.
• Integrate a peace and security lens within flagship environmental policies.
• Adopt dedicated initiative(s) to improve the awareness and capacity of the EU and Member States
defense sectors (e.g. military forces) regarding the role of climate and environment in conflict prevention
and resolution.
• Harness Europe’s development assistance for sustainability worldwide by
• Targeting EU external assistance based on the status of SDG delivery in third countries.
• Integrating a stronger resource-efficiency dimension in Europe’s ODA
• Exploring how to strengthen and then operationalise the EU’s action plan for resilience.

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Harnessing European policies for environmental and
climate risk reduction in Africa
• Do one’s homework (fair share of mitigation and climate
finance including adaptation) and support PSCD policies
(stop “dumping”, safe operating space for livestock, access
to protein, models of consumption, EPAs)
• Use environmental diplomacy to contribute to reduce
pressure on and competition over resources in Africa
• Mainstream risk reduction within ODA and proposed
alliance as a response to Africa’s SDG challenges
• e.g. nature-based solutions for youth employment,
resilience (agriculture, cities), management of
commons
• Strengthen regional and panafrican capacities
• Integrated environmental risk mapping in Africa and
MENA (going beyond climate, incl. planetary
boundaries)
• Military cooperation around response to disasters as
well as integration of environmental risk into ground
operations

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Relevant project work from IEEP
• Think2030 is a new platform of think tanks, local authorities, NGOs and businesses, which gathered on October
17th-18th in Brussels to inform a science-based agenda for European environmental policy beyond 2020, including
an 8th Environmental Action Programme, and provide policy recommendations on a range of sustainability issues
for policy makers including the European Parliament in the run up to the upcoming European elections. See more at
https://think2030.eu/
• Think2030 paper Sustainable Development Goals and the EU: the external and internal policy nexus, by Marianne
Kettunen, Catherine Bowyer, Lucia Vaculova and Celine Charveriat (IEEP). Forthcoming – will be available on our
website.
• Think2030 paper Reinforcing the Environmental Dimensions of the European Foreign and Security Policy, by:
Marianne Kettunen (IEEP), Dominique Noome (Global Military Advisory Council on Climate Change – GMACCC) and
Johanna Nyman (IEEP), with support from Ronald A. Kingham (GMACCC). Available on our website
https://ieep.eu/publications/draft-think-2030-policy-papers

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Thank you for your attention !
ccharveriat@ieep.eu