„We all share the risks of climate change and environmental degradation on this planet. Rising sea levels affect everyone, and increasingly fierce hurricanes do not stop at national borders. To paraphrase Martin Luther King: instability anywhere is a threat to peace and wellbeing everywhere.”
Bert Koenders, Foreign Minister of the Netherlands, giving the opening speech at the first Planetary Security Conference (The Hague, 2 November 2015).
U.S. diplomats used to receive guidance about climate change and migration. The Government Accountability Office is recommending the State Department bring it back.
The report, requested by the US Congress in 2017, drew sharp criticism for being too thin on details and failing to show which bases are most at risk across the military.
The Katowice climate package brings minor progress, but COP 24 failed to deliver on the most fundamental issues such as raising ambition of national contributions, implementing human rights, and ensuring support for developing countries.
Brazil has demoted climate diplomacy as part of a foreign ministry shake-up, in Jair Bolsonaro’s first two weeks as president.