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2025–26: Towards the Review Conference

Protecting the Non-Proliferation Treaty project development.

Phase four.

In the lead-up to the 2026 Review Conference, the project structure was again streamlined to enable more responsive collaboration and closer alignment with developments in the diplomatic process and the broader geopolitical context. Our engagements with key stakeholders and states parties increased, including with the Preparatory Committee chairs and their Ministries in Finland, Kazakhstan, and Ghana, as well as outreach to the new Review Conference leadership in Viet Nam.

Side events at the 2025 Preparatory Committee, including a co-hosted session with the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, offered a platform to share practical recommendations on nuclear risks and again address concerns over the rising salience of nuclear weapons in state doctrines.

Following the 2025 PrepCom, project members identified the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) as the next target to reinforce as an essential element of the non-proliferation regime.

Lessons and impact

In this phase, we received renewed support and funding to continue efforts leading up to the 2026 Review Conference, having demonstrated that the ELN was feeding into the diplomatic process and the deliberations of states parties. Building on the success of previous years, the ELN and project working group cemented itself as a trusted forum for exchange and expertise.

Having identified the CTBT as a pressing issue area in the summer of 2025, the group’s political acumen was vindicated as in October 2025, President Trump indicated that the US would again consider nuclear testing on an “equal basis”, with similar signals following from President Putin in November. The policy brief “Tried and tested: Why the CTBT must be preserved” was published less than a month later and shared widely with officials and diplomats in the disarmament space, including in person at the UK’s annual Wilton Park Conference, and in a private internal briefing with CTBTO Executive Secretary, Dr Rob Floyd.

Persistent tensions have hindered efforts towards disarmament, and several like-minded initiatives, such as the Stepping Stones approach, are facing increased uncertainty. Nevertheless, the ELNs NPT project has kept focus and is now working toward further deliverables at the New York review conference.

Select publications from 2025–26

Policy brief

Tried and tested: Why the CTBT must be preserved

President Trump’s recent statement about the US resumption of nuclear testing has heightened concerns over a renewed arms race and the erosion of the global norm against nuclear testing enshrined in the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT). This new policy brief from the ELN’s Protecting the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty project argues that the CTBT reinforces the NPT by bolstering the nuclear non-proliferation norm and constraining the development of new nuclear warhead types: sustaining it is a strategic imperative. States Parties to the NPT must work together to strengthen the CTBT’s credibility and relevance to international security and prioritise collective multilateral action over short-term security gains.

4 December 2025
Multilateral Arms Control, Disarmament and Non-ProliferationNPT Project
Policy brief

Turning down the heat: Addressing the growing salience of nuclear weapons

At the 2025 NPT Preparatory Committee in New York this month a key issue likely to spark debate is the increasing salience of nuclear weapons. All five nuclear-weapon states under the NPT are increasing the role and significance of nuclear weapons in their military and security policies, at odds with the commitments accepted under the NPT. This new policy brief from the ELN’s Protecting the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty project examines this challenge and offers recommendations for states to address it within the NPT framework.

16 April 2025
Multilateral Arms Control, Disarmament and Non-ProliferationNPT Project
Report

Protecting the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in turbulent times: Commentary collection volume 3

This commentary collection compiles 9 articles by ELN network members and external collaborators as part of the ELN’s Protecting the Non-Proliferation Treaty project. The collection was originally published for the 2025 NPT Preparatory Committee.

11 April 2025 | Eleonora Neri, Michael Biontino, Jana Baldus, Dr Caroline Fehl, Alexander Hoppenbrouwers, Nicholas Lokker, Rishi Paul, Nikita Gryazin, Eva-Nour Repussard and Verena Jackson
Multilateral Arms Control, Disarmament and Non-ProliferationNPT Project