Emergency humanitarian aid, which aims to save lives and reduce people’s suffering in times of crises, has grown considerably over the last century to become a central feature of international relations and of the multilateral system. It is estimated that over 400 million people depend on such aid today. The future of these people and of the humanitarian aid they depend on are fraught with risks, in light of five palpable trends: exponentially growing humanitarian needs; shrinking and reshaped funding; the implications of technological advances; the localisation of aid; and the worrying questioning of a principled approach to humanitarian aid based on respect for international humanitarian law.