Perspective I FES New York Climate Change and Global Security What Role for the UN Security Council? Ken Conca, Joe Thwaites, Goueun Lee October 2017 n The UN Security Council is under increasing pressure to address climate change as a threat to international security, as reflected in e.g. the survival of small-island states, environmental degradation as a driver of conflict, and the prospect of climate refugees. n Whereas the Council in its current modus operandi seems poorly suited for many of the roles that have been proposed for it, action on climate change could play a part in transforming the Council into an organ better suited to the world’s needs. n The Council’s capabilities on climate change action would be improved, for exam­ple, by forward-looking initiatives that are supported by affected states, or by a coordinated, symbolic gesture from its permanent members that would position the Council as reinforcing the UN’s system-wide response rather than encroaching on it.