Europe Knows that Climate Action Is Vital to Global Security

From left France's Minister for Energy Transition, Agnes Pannier-Runacher, Colombia's Minister of Environment, Susana Muhamad, Kenya's special climate envoy, Ali Mohamed, at the joint declaration during a press conference. [Courtesy]

"Present trends are racing our planet down a dead-end three-degree temperature rise," United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres recently warned. He is right. Unless we act decisively, the threat that climate change poses to humanity will become nothing short of existential.

Already, climate change is a major risk multiplier for conflict and instability. Extreme weather events like floods and heatwaves have led to the forcible displacement of more than 20 million people each year since 2008. By 2050, more than one billion people may have insufficient access to water, and more than 200 million may be forced to migrate.