Scientific uptake in United Nations Security Council debates on climate change and security

Abstract

Concerns about adverse security implications of climate change have fostered a booming research agenda and have also gained increasing traction in international political fora, such as the United Nations Security Council (UNSC). To what extent do policy discourses and decisions reflect the scientific understanding of the problem? Here, we assess evidence on uptake of scientific research on climate change and violent conflict in high-level UNSC debates, 2007–2022. We show that UNSC member states increasingly acknowledge climate-conflict risks as real but context-dependent, consistent with recent academic literature on the topic. Even so, views remain divided among prominent Council members, blocking progress on this matter. Explicit engagement with science on climate change and conflict, which might have helped resolve disagreements, remains rare and partly selective. We highlight challenges and opportunities for the scientific community to improve the perceived relevance and accessibility of research to stakeholders and strengthen science-policy interaction.