“Who would have thought, ten years ago, that water would be a scarcer commodity than oil or gas? The challenges are therefore obvious, and they affect NATO, our collective security and Europe”. At the conference ‘A Transatlantic Conversation: Climate and Security’, held in Brussels on 21 June, the Executive Vice-President of the European Commission, Frans Timmermans, warned of the urgent need to take action on the impact of climate change on peace and security.
Alongside the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, the US President's Special Envoy for Climate Change, John Kerry, and the Secretary General of NATO, Jens Stoltenberg, Mr Timmermans detailed the immediate, direct and growing negative consequences for security and defence that the climate crisis represents.
This observation is corroborated by his fellow speakers, including Josep Borrell, who believes that the EU is exacerbating existing problems and creating new threats: water stress in Asia, the controversial dam in Ethiopia, the crisis in the Sahel, terrorism in the Sahara and in the Gulf of Guinea, etc. These are all reasons for Mr Borrell to “deploy environmental advisers in all these countries and in all EU missions”.
In view of this assessment, the EU and NATO representatives expressed their desire to strengthen their collaboration. With a view to NATO's second annual high-level dialogue on climate change and security, to be held in Vilnius (Lithuania) in July, and COP28 in Dubai (United Arab Emirates) in December, they will aim to identify opportunities for cooperation in order to obtain operational information. These discussions will focus on the safety aspects of climate change and environmental degradation, ecological standards and energy efficiency. It will also involve measuring greenhouse gas emissions from military activities and facilities, with a view to reducing them. (Original version in French by Nithya Paquiry)