This October the yearly Berlin Climate Security Conference (BCSC) took place against the backdrop of growing international focus on climate security nexus.

On the 10th of November, the Conflict and Environment Observatory (CEOBS) and Scientists for Global Responsibility (SGR) published their report ‘Estimating the military’s global greenhouse gas emissions’, comparing the military carbon footprint on a global scale.

Months of the military conflict caused by Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine have caused significant damage and led to the unfolding of a humanitarian crisis. Civilian infrastructure has been destroyed and damage has been done to the environment. This war adversely affects the global climate causing significant carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere.

Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) is at risk of conflict as tensions between factions are rising in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The fragile peace in the country is based on the 1995 Dayton Peace Accords, which ended the war that erupted after the break-up of Yugoslavia. The Dayton Accords divided BiH into the Federation of BiH, with the majority of the population consisting of Croats and Bosniaks, and the Serb-dominated Republika Srpska.

The invasion of Ukraine by Russia brings together a range of security issues: energy, military, finance, food, climate, etc.

In September 2022, International Alert published its report titled “From diagnosis to action: Five lessons for addressing climate security risks”. This report distils lessons learned from International Alert’s 15 years of climate, security and peacebuilding programming.

General Jimmy Doolittle is typically remembered for his exploits as a test pilot and combat leader during War II. Yet his greatest contribution to the war effort may have come years earlier, when Doolittle was an executive with Shell Oil Company in the 1930s. There, he convinced Shell to invest in producing a new grade of aviation fuel - 100 octane - to replace the 87 octane fuel then in use.

The Middle East is one of the regions of the world most exposed to climate change and desertification. The urgent challenges it faces include air pollution and sandstorms, temperatures in some areas that exceed a threshold for human adaptability, and extreme weather events, such as Cyclone Shaheen in October 2021 and the floods in summer 2022.

The rush to achieve net zero is driving massive global investments in renewable energy. Surges in energy prices as a result of the conflict in Ukraine make the green transition even more pressing and may further increase the benefits for investors. No one needs a net zero world more than the almost two billion people who live in fragile and conflict-affected places: for them, the climate emergency can be literally a matter of life or death.

The crisis in the Sahel shows that wars fuelled by climate change could make earth a place unfit for life earlier than rising temperatures.