WBGU Flagship Report Part I: Environment shapes security 

The report sections are based on five areas identified by the Council as essential for an integrated security policy.

The German Advisory Council on Global Change (WBGU), co-chaired by IDOS Director Prof. Anna-Katharina Hornidge and Prof. Jörg Drewes, presented the first part of the new Flagship Report “Security – sustainable and integrated”. In light of the dynamic debates on security policy, it is already publishing individual report sections in advance, a new format of the WBGU. In March 2026, an initial situation report on that topic was published.

The report sections now are based on five areas identified by the Council as essential for an integrated security policy and discuss and zoom in on – in addition to military defence capability and civil defence:

1. Protection from climate change, biodiversitylossand pollution;
2. socialcohesion; 3. balanced use of technologies and raw materials;
3. informationintegrity as well as
4. strategic, rules-based, fair international collaborations.

The now published first section of the report is entitled “Environment shapes security”. It argues that human-caused global environmental changes are security risks and that, in turn, environmental and climate policy in particular contribute to national security policy. The report urges for environmental threats to be permanently integrated into the work of the National Security Council and identifies three areas of action in particular: Environmental protection as a key pillar of security architecture, climate stabilisation as a security factor, and international environmental cooperation as a peacebuilding measure. Anna-Katharina Hornidge presented the report at the Hamburg Sustainability Conference, and on 8 July, Anna-Katharina Hornidge introduced and moderated a WBGU webinar on the report, where its main findings and recommendations were discussed with WBGU members and external experts.