Climate Security Hub

Anthropogenic emissions are irreversibly changing the earth's climate system. This rapid release of organic carbon into the atmosphere constitutes, as noted by Revelle and Suess in 1957, the largest geophysical experiment ever attempted. The scale and pace of contemporary climate change are simply unprecedented, and questions have begun to arise on how a warmer, more unpredictable earth will affect international peace and security.

The past twenty years have seen increasingly rapid advances in the field of climate security, where two schools of thought have emerged. The first is the environmental security school, focusing on how geophysical impacts of climate change — mediated by social variables — lead to conflict via opportunity-cost or grievance mechanisms. The second is the political ecology school, which focuses on how climate signals are translated into knowledge and practices that navigate ecological transformations, benefitting some and disempowering others. Together, these perspectives have shown that the link between climate change and international security is multi-causal and largely context-specific.

My research looks at this intersection from three angles: the state of the scientific evidence, the evolution of policy debates, and how climate security is being operationalized in practice.

Scientific Evidence

My contribution to the scientific evidence base focuses on the systematic assessment of existing research and on building quantitative tools to map what we know and do not know about climate-security dynamics.

Policy Debates

An evolving discussion on climate security has taken place within international organizations over the past decade. This discussion has been driven by public demand for climate action, growing awareness of security implications, and the need to adapt security operations to a changing environment. My research maps how these debates have unfolded and what they tell us about the institutionalization of climate security as a policy field.

Policy Practice

The operationalization of climate security in practice is the part of the field where the gap between evidence, debates, and action is most apparent. My work in this area examines how international organizations, climate funds, and bilateral actors have translated climate security commitments into concrete programmes and projects — and what barriers remain.