Skip to content
Event | 11 April 2025

The European Leadership Network and the 2025 NPT Preparatory Committee

2NT NPT Emerging technologies NPT Nuclear Arms Control

The 2025 NPT Preparatory Committee—or PrepCom—begins on Monday, 28 April 2025, marking the last milestone in the current review cycle. Held at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, the third PrepCom will bring together governments, civil society, and experts to assess progress on the NPT’s three pillars: disarmament, non-proliferation, and peaceful uses of nuclear energy and make recommendations to the 2026 NPT Review Conference.

As with the first and second PrepComs, held in Vienna and Geneva, respectively, the ELN team will be on the ground and presenting on our multiyear projects supported by two governments: Protecting the Non-Proliferation Treaty, sponsored by the Norwegian MFA and Nuclear and New Technologies, sponsored by the German Federal Foreign Ministry.

Join us at the upcoming sessions to learn more about our initiatives and connect with our network, or out more about our work in previous years: 2024, 2023, and 2022.

Event 1: Reducing the Salience of nuclear weapons: Practical steps for a safer future 

Monday 28 April 2025, CR 6, UNHQ, NY, 13:15-14:30* 

Join the ELN as we explore pathways for reducing nuclear salience and strengthening disarmament diplomacy. This event aims to tackle concerns about nuclear weapons’ increasing prominence in strategic doctrines and examine practical measures to reduce their role.

Topics will include: 

    • Doctrinal developments
    • National and collective responsibilities for reducing the role of nuclear weapons
    • Steps for nuclear-weapon states to de-emphasise nuclear options
    • The role of non-nuclear weapon states in shaping disarmament norms
    • And more!

Event 2: From simulation to strategy: How AI can advance nuclear risk reduction 

Thursday 01 May, 2025, CR 6, UNHQ, NY, 13:15-14:30* 

The cumulative effects of new and emerging disruptive technologies (EDTs) are underexplored and could lead to misjudgement, misinterpretation, or unintended escalation, at worst leading to a nuclear crisis. For this side event, building on our work to develop guardrails and self-assessment frameworks for EDTs, our focus will be on how artificial intelligence could be leveraged to inform policy and reduce risks.

In collaboration with leading technology experts, the ELN will present two experimental AI driven models: An experimental simulation platform that analyses the impact of EDTs on complexity and aspects of high-level decision-making in crises scenarios, alongside a digital model replicating the impact of EDTs on decision-making dynamics using both historical and synthetic data

Topics for discussion include: 

    • Introduction of both AI driven tools and their practical applications in nuclear risk reduction
    • Encouraging dialogue on the cumulative effects of EDTs on nuclear decision-making processes and NC3 systems
    • Contribute to broader discussions within the NPT framework on managing contemporary nuclear risks

Explore an AI tool yourself by joining us in the exhibition space on the ground floor on Thursday, 01 May, and Friday, 02 May.

*Light sandwich lunch for attendees provided from midday for both events

Contact: [email protected]

 

Related content

Policy brief

Stop the bleeding: How to protect existing NPT disarmament agreements and commitments

Steps to protect the Article 6 acquis on nuclear disarmament are a necessary condition for success of the 2026 NPT RevCon, but there is uncertainty under what political circumstances states parties will convene in 2026. As the nuclear disarmament acquis is currently threatened from many directions, this policy brief considers what steps states parties may take to protect the NPT under different scenarios.

Event

ELN workshop report: Technological complexity and risk reduction

On the 29th and 30th of October 2024, the ELN convened a two-day workshop as part of its project, “Simulating Technological Complexity & Advancing Risk Reduction”, to explore how experimental AI-driven prototypes might enhance decision-making and reduce risks associated with Emerging and Disruptive Technologies in the nuclear domain.

Commentary

Reversing the slide to nuclear war — explained

On the eve of the 2025 Munich Security Conference, the Euro-Atlantic Security Leadership Group (EASLG) issued a statement on steps to reverse the slide to nuclear war signed by sixty-four former officials, military leaders, and experts. Steve Andreasen and Chair of the ELN Lord Des Browne explain why the statement matters.