On 24 March 2022, the Stockholm Hub on Environment, Climate and Security, in cooperation with the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs, hosted an informal roundtable on the theme ’Climate Change, Peace and Security at COP27—Risks and Opportunities’.
The compounding challenges of climate change, peace and security have gained increasing attention internationally, both with regards to research, but also with regards to policy discussions in the United Nations, the European Union and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe. There is a growing recognition that responses to climate-related security risks are not just about adaptation, but also about successful mitigation, which is crucial. Therefore it is timely that the topic has been recognized at the annual COP climate conferences, in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and in several Nationally Determined Contributions.
Recognizing these more elaborate pushes to raise the topic at COP27 in Egypt in 2022, the roundtable—which was joined by Michael Keating, Executive Director of the European Institute of Peace (EIP), and participants from the Swedish Foreign Ministry—reflected on both the risks and opportunities that emerge from this development. More concretely, it explored what COP27 may achieve in terms of formulating an ‘Agenda for Peace’ at COP27 and establishing workstreams.
