A new report published from the European Leadership Network’s New European Voices on Existential Risk (NEVER) project calls for a systemic international approach to be taken to address man-made existential risk. The risks from nuclear weapons, climate change, biological threats, and AI are interconnected and cross-cutting lessons should be drawn.
In 2024, the European Leadership Network (ELN) delivered an intergenerational networking programme designed to support emerging leaders in the fields of security, foreign policy, and existential risk. The programme brought together 25 participants from across the New European Voices on Existential Risks (NEVER) Network and the Younger Generation Leadership Network (YGLN).
The world shifted on 20 January 2025 with Donald Trump’s return to the White House. His bold actions—exiting the Paris Climate Agreement and World Health Organisation—signal an ambition to not only dismantle Biden’s legacy but elements of the post-war multilateral order. However, much of President Trump’s focus so far has centred on domestic issues, raising questions about the gap we may see between rhetoric and reality in US foreign policy under Trump 2.0. ELN Senior Associate Fellow Ilana Bet-El explores this with Dr Kathleen McInnis.
As part of the ELN’s New European Voices on Existential Risk (NEVER) network’s podcast, “Ok, Doomer!”, ELN Policy and Impact Director Jane Kinninmont spoke with Historian, Giovanni Agnelli Distinguished Professor, and Director of the Henry A. Kissinger Center for Global Affairs at Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies, Professor Francis Gavin, on the history of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
Listen to the final episode of the NEVER podcast – Ok, Doomer! This episode takes a step back to assess what we’ve learned about existential and global catastrophic risks in previous episodes, and what comes next. Featuring a discussion of how ordinary people can get involved in existential risk mitigation, what ongoing efforts will prove most successful in creating a framework to deal on these topics, and how the example of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty demonstrates that global cooperation to deal with the biggest threats we all face is possible, even in a tense geopolitical climate.
As more attention is paid to geoengineering technologies that claim to mitigate the existential risks posed by climate change, Jakob Gomolka, from our New European Voices on Existential Risk (NEVER) network, argues that policymakers needs to understand the geopolitical implications of these technologies, let alone their climatic side-effects, and calls for more alignment in the international governance of geoengineering technologies.