UN Security Council: what role for action on Climate-Security risks?

There is increasing demand for the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) - as a high-profile global actor on peace and security - to show clear leadership on climate-related security risks. While a coalition of actors and states have been working to build consensus on the need for climate change to be more explicitly addressed by the UNSC, questions have emerged over what this might look like. How can climate-related risks be more systematically addressed by the UN system? Some actors have called for an ‘institutional home’ to be built for climate-related risks at the UN, under the auspices of the Secretary General. However, others have asked for a clearer articulation of what this might look like, taking into account the practical realities of the UN system and the existing work being done to mainstream climate change in the system.

This session will debate the role of the UNSC on climate-related risks - bringing in the perspectives of policy actors, researchers and practitioners. It will be guided by the following questions:

1. How should the UN be able to deal with the adverse (security-related) risks of climate change and does the UNSC have a role in this?

2. What are the options for an institutional home on climate-related risks at the UN, and how should it support the UNSC? 

3. What can we do, as concerned actors, to collaborate and build consensus for an institutional home? Or for another form of streamlined UN action on climate-related security risks?