Episode 10 of 'The Resilience Brief' podcast, a collaboration between the International Military Council on Strategic Risks (IMCCS), Frazer-Nash Consultancy, and NATO Climate Change and Security Centre of Excellence (NATO CCASCOE).
As NATO adapts to a more turbulent security environment, two realities are increasingly hard to separate: extreme environments are reshaping military activity, and adversaries are learning how to exploit the vulnerabilities that follow.
In The Resilience Brief (Episode 10), Dr. Sarah Ashbridge and Lt. Col. Alistair Beard bring together Prof. Katarzyna Zysk (Norwegian Institute for Defence Studies) and Rear Admiral (Ret.) Ben Bekkering (Royal Netherlands Navy) to unpack how climate change is affecting NATO operations - and the behaviour of its adversaries - in very different ways across the Global North and Global South.
The conversation moves from the increasing centrality of Russia's involvement in the Artic to the relevance of the "arc of instability", an area stretching from the Gulf of Guinea across the Sahel and Horn of Africa into the Western Indian Ocean. In all this, climate-driven disruptions, argues Bekkering, are often the catalytic stressor that compounds vulnerability - creating instability that is strategically relevant for Europe.
Another central theme of the discussion is how adversaries interpret climate change: different postures are guided by strategic interests and opportunism, underlying the complexity around finding a consensus on tackling the issue.
Perhaps the most actionable part of the episode is the shift from diagnosis to delivery: the podcast's guests stress that climate security cannot remain an abstract strategic concern. Bekkering argues for a both top-down and bottom-up approach, with clearer requirements, stronger political decision-making, and a narrative rooted in operational advantage - particularly through energy resilience and freedom to manoeuvre. Zysk reinforces the need for sustained attention, education, innovation partnerships and deeper cross-border cooperation, because no state can manage these risks alone.
"We have solutions for many things, but it comes up to the political will to make decisions that are tough."
Rear Admiral (Ret.) Ben Bekkering
"We need more cooperation at the tactical, operational, and the strategic level, knowledge exchange, experience and finding solutions together."
Professor Katarzyna Zysk
In sum, Episode 10 is a timely reminder that resilience is not an add-on: it is a core requirement in a security environment where climate, strategic interests and conflict are increasingly intersected.
This text is based on extracts from Episode 10 of the Resilience Brief podcast hosted by Dr Sarah Ashbridge (SA Consultancy, Yorkshire), and Lt. Col. Alistair Beard, featuring Professor Katarzyna Zysk (Norwegian Institute for Defence Studies) and Rear Admiral (Ret.) Ben Bekkering (Royal Netherlands Navy). To listen to the full episode and/or read the transcript, follow the link here.
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