Tackling climate crisis to be at heart of German security strategy – foreign min

The climate crisis and its effects on people’s lives around the world will be at the heart of the National Security Strategy being developed by the German government, said foreign minister Annalena Baerbock. The minister called climate change “the security policy question of our time” and said the “foundations for the security of our lives” depend on “getting a grip on” it. Her government’s foreign policy on the issue would become an integral element of the upcoming strategy. “Every tonne less CO2, every tenth of a degree less global warming is a contribution to human security,” she told security policy stakeholders in Berlin. Baerbock started her speech talking about Russia’s war against Ukraine and a more traditional element of security policy, the energy supply and Germany’s dependence on imported fossil fuels – to a large extent from Russia. “Moving away from fossil fuels faster, and towards renewable, efficient energy is not just investing in cleaner energy, it is investing in our security and therefore our freedom,” said Baerbock. She acknowledged that the country will have to import renewable energy sources in the future, such as green hydrogen.

The government plans to develop a national security strategy together with security policy stakeholders such as lawmakers, researchers, associations and civil society. The country does not yet have such a strategy. The war against Ukraine has forced Germany to radically rethink many fundamental policy fields, such as its energy policy, given that the country is heavily dependent on Russian fossil fuels.