Norway recently announced that electric vehicles (EV) now outnumber gas-powered ones on its highways for the first time—and that these vehicles comprise 80 percent of its current new car sales. While internal combustion engines (ICE) will not disappear for several years, Norway’s sales of ICE-powered vehicles will end abruptly in 2025.

At first glance, the growing alignment of climate and biodiversity challenges in global politics may seem harmless. Indeed, there is a strong argument that it is a much-needed and long overdue development, since addressing these inextricably-connected challenges together may ensure that gains in one area do not lead to costs in the other.

Somalia is trapped in a cycle where climate impacts—droughts, floods, and erratic weather patterns—fuel displacement, poverty, and conflict. With agriculture and pastoralism at the core of its economy, the country is particularly vulnerable to these environmental shocks, which create fertile ground for insurgent groups to exploit the resulting instability.

A window into what we’re reading at the Wilson Center’s Environmental Change and Security Program 

Member States Adopt Pact of the Future (United Nations)

The United Nations hosted the Summit of the Future earlier this week, which led to a new agreement between member states which acknowledged the shortcomings of the UN’s current role and abilities. The Pact of the Future encourages member states to reaffirm, reestablish, and renew global cooperation—and create new solutions to address today’s escalating polycrises.

A window into what we’re reading at the Wilson Center’s Environmental Change and Security Program 

COP29-Host Azerbaijan Accused of Hypocrisy (The Guardian)   

Azerbaijan holds the presidency for the upcoming COP29 in November 2024, and it is using that platform to call for all member states to cease any ongoing conflict they are involved in during the two-week conference. The Central Asian country will also host a “peace day” on November 15, and is putting forth a COP29 Climate and Peace Initiative to support vulnerable countries and advance action in the climate and peace nexus. 

The Pacific Institute recently updated its Water Conflict Chronology—a database of water-conflict events that began to take form in the 1980s. The recent updates include the addition of 300 new entries to the database, highlighting the alarming rise of water-related conflicts in the last few years. Despite this overwhelming evidence of a growing trend in water-related conflicts, global attention toward addressing them remains negligible.   

At the opening of the Commission on the Status of Women in New York this past March,  UN Secretary-General António Guterres underscored the importance of stepping up national and global efforts to advance the rights of women. Guterres observed that “many women and girls are also facing a war on their fundamental rights at home and in their communities. Hard-fought progress is being reversed.”