The report section tackles the question of how the environment, the climate and biodiversity need to be incorporated into new security strategies. The WBGU recommends making environmental threats a permanent and integral part of security policy risk analyses and considering them alongside traditional military and economic security criteria.
“Investing in environmental peacebuilding means investing in a future in which stabilized ecosystems and social peace can be achieved through our joint efforts,” says Hornidge, who is a member of the Bonn Center for Dependency and Slavery Studies Cluster of Excellence and the Individuals and Societies Transdisciplinary Research Area at the University of Bonn.
Three areas of action for integrated security
The WBGU pinpoints three main areas of action in its report section. First, it says, stabilizing the climate has to be understood as a security factor, which includes, in particular, ending the burning of fossil fuels as quickly and completely as possible and switching global energy systems to renewable sources.
Second, the advisory council stresses the importance for civil protection of natural infrastructure, i.e. ecosystems that absorb heat, purify the air or counteract changes in the climate, for instance. Thus, it argues, protecting this infrastructure is not only a matter of nature conservation and environmental protection but also a way to help ensure resilience and safeguard essential public services.
Third, the report highlights international environmental cooperation as a peacebuilding measure, suggesting that protecting ecosystems and managing natural resources on a collective and collaborative basis can build trust among countries and strengthen various groups in society. This will require corresponding approaches in development cooperation and peacebuilding to be expanded systematically, say the authors.
Scientific advice helping to bring about societal impact
Hornidge’s involvement in the report is an example of how researchers at the University of Bonn are contributing their expertise to political and societal debates. Policy consulting is an important part of science communication as understood by the University of Bonn’s concept for the future: Besides producing new findings, excellent research is also expected to provide guidance for responsible action in the spheres of politics, society and international cooperation.
Established in 1992 as an independent scientific advisory committee, the WBGU analyzes global environmental and development problems and gives recommendations for what action and research could solve them.
Further information:
Full WBGU report section: “The Environment Shapes Security”
WBGU situation report: "Security – Sustainable and Integrated” (2026)