Few issues have such far-reaching global implications as climate change. It is therefore a great pleasure for me to be part of this panel and I am grateful to the German Federal Foreign Office and to the German Red Cross for the invitation. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)’s latest report projects an increase in the number of displaced over the course of this century. The risk of displacement intensifies when vulnerable populations experience higher exposure to extreme weather events, in both rural and urban areas, particularly in low-income countries. According to the IPCC, there is an emerging consensus that greater variability of climatic factors will have an increasing impact on the livelihoods and safety of the most vulnerable members of communities.