Environment

On 1 February, the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared the Zika virus a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC). Are the health crisis management structures currently in place, not only in Latin America but also in the EU, ready to face this challenge?

How could the EU help bridge the gap between energy and climate policies? This Alert argues that by doing so there is an opportunity to both improve European energy security in the long term and to make European climate diplomacy more effective.

While necessary for the climate, working through the costs and benefits of going green is an economic challenge with strategic implications. What factors will influence national efforts, and international negotiations, to cut out carbon? This Brief looks into the geopolitics of...

Climate change is a 'wicked problem' and efforts to address it have been slow, uneven, and politically divisive. But building on the lessons of past debacles, diplomats and negotiators have begun to apply a series of elements, useful for addressing wicked problems, that have...

The European Security Strategy (ESS) issued by the EU in December 2003 devoted its first chapter to what it called ‘global challenges’. Most of those challenges –poverty, infectious disease, drought and famine, violent conflict – affect the Europe of today only indirectly and/or...

With the 21st Conference of Parties (COP21) on climate fast approaching, hopes for finally clinching a robust global climate deal are running high. This Alert assesses the current state of play of the negotiations and looks at the remaining key challenges to be tackled in the run...

This independent report commissioned by members of the G7, identifies seven compound climate-fragility risks that pose serious threats to the stability of states and societies in the decades ahead. Based on an assessment of existing policies on climate change adaptation...

The Arctic region is currently undergoing major and rapid transformation, both environmentally and economically. This report, the outcome of a EUISS Task Force, examines how these changes carry significant political implications, and highlights the new security challenges that...

With the next summit of the Arctic Council expected to deal with the EU’s pending application to become a recognised observer in the organisation, this Alert takes a look at the cooperation efforts – and tensions – in the far north.

This report, the outcome of a series of meetings of the Arab Foresight Group, an initiative undertaken by the EUISS, presents three alternative scenarios for the Arab world in 2025. These take into account those ‘megatrends’ which are unlikely to change, and outline three...