Overview
Elemental, the first comprehensive account of the geopolitics of climate change, takes us on a journey from the heat of the Sahel to the Arctic Circle, to show how climate change is coinciding with a breakdown in geopolitical order, increasing conflict and economic crises. The book blends reportage with analysis and interviews with key experts, policymakers and politicians, to reveal the turbulent future we face – and the choices we need to make to avert disaster.
Within our lifetimes, rising temperatures, sea levels and scarcity will inevitably drive both conflict and mass migration globally. Natural disasters and the battle for rare minerals that are critical to clean energy are likely to shake the established world order to its core within this century. When the rain wrecks India's ability to grow rice, the heat makes building impossible in Saudi Arabia, wildfires rage through America's most populated regions, and in Russia huge areas of highly fertile land are exposed by the melting ice, what will living on a warmer planet look like?
While such unprecedented challenges inevitably drive conflict, they will also encourage innovation, upending economies and global power structures to create opportunities for new players and pioneering ways of living. The panellists will consider the potential outcomes of some of the efforts to mitigate climate change and how they could or have led to unintended consequences.
Panellists
- Arthur Snell, RUSI Associate Fellow, writer, podcast host and geopolitical affairs consultant.
- Dr Joana de Deus Pereira, Senior Research Fellow, Terrorism and Conflict, RUSI Europe.
- Dr Duncan Depledge, RUSI Associate Fellow and Senior Lecturer in Geopolitics and Security, Loughborough University.
- Dan Marks, Research Fellow for Energy Security, RUSI.
Elemental: The New Geography of Climate Change and How We Survive It was published by Headline in March 2026.
Joining Instructions
This event is open to all members and will take place at RUSI, 61 Whitehall, London, SW1A 2ET. If you have any questions regarding this event, please email [email protected].
