Environmental Coordinator at the Civilian Operations Headquarter within the European External Action Service
On 17th of March 2025, PSI spoke with Johanna Lauritsen, the Environmental Coordinator at the Civilian Operations Headquarter (CivOpsHQ) within the European External Action Service (EEAS). In her role, Lauritsen works to integrate environmental considerations into civilian Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) missions. The civilian missions are an EU tool to support countries with crisis management and security sector reform.
In this interview, she discusses the challenges of mainstreaming environmental aspects in CSDP missions but also highlights how missions can address environment-related security threats relating to their mandates, tackling environmental crime, and taking steps towards considering environmental sustainability in complex geopolitical contexts.
Could you please introduce yourself and describe your role as the Environmental Coordinator at the CPCC within the European External Action Service (EEAS)?
Certainly. I am the Environmental Coordinator at the Civilian Operations Headquarters in Brussels. My role involves supporting civilian CSDP missions in integrating environmental considerations into their internal operations and external tasks. This includes recruiting environmental advisors, mainstreaming environmental guidance, and finding ways to implement sustainability initiatives even in missions without dedicated environmental advisors.
What are the biggest challenges in integrating environmental considerations into CSDP missions? How have missions adapted to these challenges?
We are still in the learning phase, and we are continuously developing our approach. The Civilian Compact sets ambitious goals for considering environmental aspects, both internally and externally, giving us a strong foundation. However, there are key challenges, including the limited number of professionals who have both environmental and security sector knowledge. It is a niche area, so we have to support learning within roles and sharing knowledge across missions.
Another challenge is the regular staff turnover in missions. It takes time for advisors to fully understand the operational context and identify appropriate ways to mainstream environmental aspects, and when they leave, we have to ensure that the positive efforts are moving forward. Related to this, another challenge that can also be seen as an asset is that, unlike in the UN structure, our environmental advisors work on both the internal and external aspects of the mission. This dual responsibility makes it even more difficult to find the right people for the job, but it also provides flexibility—if one area is difficult to advance, advisors can focus on other aspects and still make progress.
Europe is currently undergoing a push for greater self-reliance in defence amid shifting U.S. commitments, do you foresee financial impacts on your work emerging from this trend?
It’s difficult to predict and it goes beyond my area of responsibility. There is certainly a greater focus on military and defence, but I believe that security must be approached holistically. Energy efficiency, optimized resource use, and sustainability can enhance resilience, making them relevant even in a shifting security landscape, and also in a mission context. The challenge is ensuring that environmental priorities do not get completely overshadowed as broader security concerns take centre stage.
Environmental crime is increasingly recognized as a security threat. How are CSDP missions addressing this issue?
Where missions have a specific mandate to address environmental crime, such as in EULEX Kosovo and EUPOL COPPS, we provide direct support, including training of law enforcement agencies and awareness-raising activities. In the Central African Republic, we support better inter-agency collaboration on illegal logging and natural resource smuggling. As environmental crimes are not always a priority within police forces, awareness raising and highlighting the links between environmental crime and larger security threats, including organised crime, is crucial.
We also mainstream environmental considerations into other external activities, including through exercises on oil spill management for the Somalian maritime police and by supporting environmentally sustainable construction projects in some mission areas.
What challenges do missions face in implementing environmental initiatives in conflict-prone areas, especially where non-state actors exert control?
We primarily engage at the national level and do not directly interact with irregular armed groups. However, when training police forces, we can incorporate broader human security perspectives, including security challenges emerging from environmental degradation and exploitation.
How are missions adapting their strategies to mitigate climate and environment-related operational challenges, such as extreme weather and resource scarcity?
Unlike large-scale UN or military missions, our operations are relatively small, often renting office spaces rather than maintaining self-sufficient camps. This limits the scope of direct adaptation and mitigation. However, we are making gradual improvements towards introducing green procurement, exploring sustainable energy solutions like solar power, and improving facility management. The Kosovo mission, for example, has solar panels at its new headquarters and is looking to expand its use of renewable energy.
A few missions have conducted environmental footprint reporting. What insights have emerged from these assessments?
We have conducted trial assessments in Georgia, Somalia, Mali, and the Central African Republic. These reports have helped us identify key areas for improvement across all missions. For example, we discovered that some missions had unusually high consumption of cooling agents for air conditioning systems. We therefore launched an assessment to check for leaks, improved monitoring, and are now working to advance maintenance.
Short mandate cycles can make large investments difficult, but on a smaller scale we are also looking into phasing out single-use plastic water bottles. One mission has already eliminated them, and we are exploring if this practice could be expanded.
Looking ahead, how do you see environmental considerations shaping the future of civilian CSDP missions? What needs to happen at the EU level to ensure that the climate, environment and security nexus remain a priority?
We’re already making progress, as seen in the Joint Communication on Climate Security, which helps keeping the topic on the agenda. It’s being integrated into various actions in Brussels, such as the European Security and Defence College developing specialized training on the impacts of environmental degradation and climate change on peace, security and defence. Increasing awareness and mainstreaming the environmental topic into different work strands is a smart way of working.
Environmental sustainability is a truly interdisciplinary task and, for example, the rule of law team in Iraq has collaborated with the Clingendael Institute to help integrate environmental and climate risk perspectives into national security strategies.
Can you share an example of a mission you consider particularly successful? Do you think it can be replicated globally?
I think the mission in Georgia stands out in terms of its internal sustainability efforts. It’s a mature mission, and the market there allows for more sustainable practices, like waste management and building design. The mission’s support department has been incredibly dedicated to support these efforts, by pioneering on green public procurement. These efforts also benefit other missions.
Do you think having more environmental advisors on staff would help raise awareness and maintain focus on sustainability? Or do you believe it’s better for staff to wear multiple hats and handle sustainability as one element of their broader roles?
In the future, I’d like sustainability to become more integrated into everyone’s job, so we might not need dedicated environmental advisors everywhere. However, for now, having someone with specific expertise is essential to move things forward Progress would have been extremely limited in our missions without the knowledge and dedication of the advisors and focal points.
At the same time, in my experience, one can sometimes move forward also with existing human resources. For instance, we have set up an internal environmental task force at the headquarters. This task force includes representatives from different departments, like operations and HR, and works together to integrate environmental criteria into our guidance and processes. Having strong management support has allowed us to make progress.
How do you approach engaging hard security experts on the topic of climate change and environmental degradation and their implications for security? Do you encounter pushback when communicating this issue, and if so, how do you overcome them?
You need to understand where people are coming from and speak about these topics in ways that make sense to them. As mentioned, some environment and climate smart approaches can reduce vulnerabilities in relation to logistics and operations and save costs. Tackling resource exploitation and illicit trade in natural resources can be measures to stop financial flows to organised crime groups.
When I speak at pre-deployment trainings offered to new mission members, the participants are generally eager to learn, and they expect our missions to lead by example in these areas.
I try to avoid presenting the issue in ways that feel overly dystopian. If people can see how they can be part of the solution, they’re more likely to engage.
About this series:
PSI has conducted interviews with several climate security practitioners. See below for an overview of interviews conducted between 2024 and 2025:
Wilfred Boerrigter: In our interview with Wilfred Boerrigter, Head of Operations at Mandalay Yoma Energy, we explored his work in maintaining solar mini grids in rural Myanmar amid ongoing conflict. He highlighted the severe energy poverty in the country and the role of renewables in enhancing community resilience by improving access to electricity, healthcare, and safety. Boerrigter discussed the challenges of operating in active conflict zones, including site accessibility, neutrality concerns, and infrastructure security. He emphasized that despite these hurdles, renewable energy remains a crucial tool for stability and development in Myanmar.
Jimena Leiva Roesch: In our interview with Jimena Leiva Roesch, the Director of global initiatives for the International Peace Institute (IPI) and Head of the Climate Peace and Sustainable Development team, we learned about her work to develop sustainable climate financing and support the most vulnerable states. She emphasises the difficulties that result from the lack of discussion space for these topics in the UN environment and reiterates that climate change should have a space in the UN Security Council. She also describes recent developments in this field and her motivations to work on these topics.
Catherine Wong: Conflict affected countries face substantial difficulties in accessing climate finance. In our interview with Catherine Wong, Global Team Leader for Climate and Security Risk at the UNDP, we found that climate financing mechanisms need to be designed differently to prioritize conflict-affected and fragile contexts. However, she also stressed that recognition of climate security challenges is growing and that there is much more demand for UNDP support.