Travis Brubaker

Twenty years after the UK first brought climate to the UN Security Council, the topic is re-emerging as a strategic priority. During London Climate Action Week, at E3G and King’s College’s inaugural Climate Security Forum, the UK announced its first ever Climate Security Taskforce, co-chaired by the Ministries of Climate and Defense. Across the forum, five governments delivered the same message: climate now underpins economic, political and security stability.

On 1 September 2025, China’s port city of Tianjin hosted the Shanghai Cooperation Organization’s 25th summit (SCO Summit), just 90 miles from Beijing. Founded in 2001, the SCO brings together ten member states along with observers, dialogue partners, and invited guests to promote Eurasian regional cooperation. This year’s summit demonstrated shifting geopolitics in motion.

As the world grapples with multiple crises, we cannot afford to overlook the most pressing and global crisis of our time – the climate crisis. Unprecedented levels of natural and humanitarian disasters, instability and conflict, and growing geopolitical and economic tensions over clean technology demonstrate how climate change permeates domestic, foreign policy and national security agendas. Climate security refers to how climate change impacts political, human and national security.