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Abstract

While extensive research examines how climate hazards influence violence, less attention has been paid to the relationship between violence and the production of anthropogenic climate change that creates these hazards. This article analyzes this relationship through three channels. First, organisations that maintain the capacity for violence – such as militaries, defence industries, and their supply chains – generate substantial emissions, concentrated in hard-to-abate sectors. Second, violence influences climate change mitigation through opposing effects: security concerns drive competitive green industrial policies while hindering international cooperation, as illustrated by the Russian invasion of Ukraine and Sino-American tensions. Third, mitigation policies themselves can create new risks of violence, particularly in fossil fuel-dependent states facing rapid transitions. Integrating these insights into a pre-existing analysis of the self-reinforcing dynamics between violence and climate vulnerability creates a comprehensive framework for understanding violence’s relationship to climate change.