Excellencies,
Distinguished guests,

A warm welcome to the Federal Foreign Office, especially to our international guests – thank you for joining us for the 7th edition of the Berlin Climate and Security Conference.
My special thanks go to the adelphi team for the excellent preparations. My gratitude to all partner organizations and speakers who will be contributing.

„Climate, Conflict and Cooperation in a Turbulent Era“ -
the motto of this conference perfectly describes what is at stake:
Yes, the world is increasingly fractured and complex.
Wars and conflicts seem to grow in number and size.
The principles of the rule of law are under attack, and so is multilateralism
Climate change is a stark reality today. Heavy floods, intensified storms, record-breaking heat waves, and long-lasting droughts cause damage, ecological and economic loss, displacement and loss of life.

I would like to start with a more general remark on what priority we give - here in our German Foreign Ministry – to climate change.
As governments we have to face all the mentioned challenges – Climate, Conflict, Instability - at the same time. In this most complex reality of our globalized world, we have to define our interests, name our priorities and design appropriate policy.
The Chancellor and the Foreign Minister have set three key goals for our German Foreign and Security policy:
Security, Freedom and Prosperity.

Climate change directly and negatively affects all these three goals.
That is why a proactive climate policy must be an essential part of our solutions. This Foreign Ministry, together with the other branches of the government, will continue to promote a proactive climate policy, we advocate for a „competitive green transition“.
And we are convinced that especially the nexus climate – security has to be given the priority it deserves.
Now I have four messages I would like to share with you today:

Firstly:
For many years I dealt with Security policy in the last years as my country’s Ambassador to NATO. And often I heard the proverb: „The Urgent always beats the Important“.
When it comes to climate change we cannot accept that.
Of course, there are immediate and pressing challenges like Gaza, Ukraine, Sudan, which require our full attention.
But we cannot afford to lose sight of the systemic risks of climate change.
These risks threaten to create or to intensify conflicts, these risks impact local, regional and international stability, they create enormous additional costs, they do impact international peace at large –
or viewed through the prism of our German foreign policy goals: by climate change our security, freedom and prosperity are put at risk.
We have to deal with both: with the Urgent as well as with the Important.

Secondly:
The nexus climate – security will gain even more importance.

The German Foreign Intelligence Service BND recently published our National Climate Risk Assessment, which clearly states:
„Anyone thinking about security, needs to think about climate as well“.

To properly understand what the challenge is about, we need everyone on board: diplomats, military, and security specialists as well as first responders, climate negotiators, peace building and humanitarian workers, energy and agricultural experts.
That’s why I am glad all of you are here today!
Because we need this collaborative and interdisciplinary spirit internationally as well.

Earlier this month, for example, the NATO Climate Change and Security Centre of Excellence in Montreal hosted the Climate Security Summit, focusing on making our militaries more climate resilient.
During that summit, Canadian Defense Minister highlighted:
„Investing in […] our ecosystems [… ] is strategic preparedness. It is national defense. And it’s natural security“. I could not agree more.

This leads me to my third message:
We have to speed up getting from analysis to action.

A good understanding of what „climate, crisis and security“ really means will best advance opportunities for very concrete cross-border collaboration and holistic solutions.
Here just a few examples:
My ministry just launched the pioneering Investing for Peace Initiative, a blended finance platform.
It is meant to encourage more investments in fragile states where climate change often exacerbates conflicts, it pools donor funds with private sector contributions from Development Finance Institutions to support local enterprises. These investments address root causes of conflict, such as climate change-induced food insecurity.
Already in 2020, we presented the Weathering Risk initiative, which generates crucial understanding about climate and environmental impacts on human security.
There are a multitude of other initiatives that are usable and operational.
We, all together, have to speed up implementing. It’s the very concrete results which make a difference, not the processes as such.

Finally, my fourth message: worldwide cooperation is key!

The security implications of climate change have been front and center of our policies at the UN for a long time – in the Security Council and beyond:
Together with Nauru, we, Germany, co-chair the UN Group of friends on climate & security, and it’s great to see a growing number of members joining, currently 78 states.
Somalia has announced to become our newest member. Somalia’s extensive experience will be of high value for our joint engagement in New York – and beyond. Thank you for your engagement for this Minister Jama!
Through our support of the UN Climate Security Mechanism, Climate and Security Advisors in UN Missions have become key facilitators to integrate climate aspects in peace building and stabilization efforts.
It’s fantastic that many of them are here today to share their expertise.

As a German Government we are also proud of our cooperation with small Islands and Development States, for example, through our support of the Rising Nations Initiative and the Coalition for addressing Sea-level rise and its Existential Threats (C-SET) to strengthen their resilience to climate change.

Our Foreign Minister Wadephul has, at UNGA last month, announced a 5 million Euro contribution to the Pacific Resilience Facility (PRF).
Furthermore, I am happy to announce that our International Climate Initiative (IKI) is dedicating a large grant to fund climate adaptation and conflict prevention in Africa.
This funding will support farmer and herder communities in a cross-border region between Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia, to adapt to environmental changes, build resilience and strengthen peaceful conflict resolution.

And of course it’s most important that in a few weeks the COP 30 in Belém commits to strong climate action. In that regard I want to reiterate that Germany and Europe take our climate targets seriously and are committed to present an EU NDC (National Determined Contribution) ideally ahead of COP30.
We, Germany, do stand by our goal to become climate neutral and we stand in solidarity with those facing vulnerability.
Germany is committed to cooperating with all of you to keep the world habitable and make it more resilient.
This serves our joint interests. It serves Security, freedom and prosperity.
And this is why, climate and security is an important focus of our candidacy for the UN Security Council 2027/28.
Be assured, if elected, Germany will be once again an active and reliable partner for this issue on the Council.

Thank you!