26 September 2025

Strengthening The OSCE’S Climate Security Agenda

SIPRI Policy Brief, September 2025

The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) and the Finnish Institute of International Affairs have published a new policy brief evaluating the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe’s (OSCE) climate security agenda. The article argues that while the OSCE holds a unique position thanks to its comprehensive security mandate and grassroots presence, it has yet to fully unlock its potential to address climate-related security risks across Europe and Eurasia.

Key Takeaways:

  • The OSCE’s strengths include its cross-dimensional security approach, clear political mandate through the 2021 Stockholm Ministerial Council Decision, and local engagement via field operations.
  • However, geopolitical tensions especially since the war in Ukraine and limited integration between climate and security strands have hampered progress.
  • The SIPRI authors urge the OSCE to explicitly frame climate as a security challenge, not just an environmental issue, integrating this perspective throughout its strategy and programming.

“The OSCE’s comprehensive security lens is therefore a blessing and a curse. The OSCE and participating states should leverage specific aspects by framing climate action as integral to all three dimensions: politico-military security, economic-environmental security and human security.” - Dr Emma Hakala and Dr Florian Krampe

Recommendations:

  • Frame climate change consistently as a cross-cutting security risk and prioritize this message at all levels ministerial, secretariat, and field operations.
  • Establish an annual, integrated climate and environmental security assessment across the OSCE region to guide evidence-based policy and intervention.
  • Strengthen the vertical  and horizontal integration of climate security in OSCE planning, mirroring good practices from UN missions.
  • Secure sustained, predictable funding for climate security, moving beyond reliance on extra-budgetary and project-specific resources.
  • Support Ukraine’s recovery by linking environmental assessments from the war with national green reconstruction planning, and continue climate-security work in other regions to build knowledge transfer and resilience.

 

This summary is based on extracts from the article authored by Dr Emma Hakala and Dr Florian Krampe. The original piece in full-length can be found here.

 

Photo Credit: OSCE/Flickr.

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