National Security & Climate Change

As stated by the Department of Defense in its Quadrennial Defense Review Report in February 2010, “climate change, energy security, and economic stability are inextricably linked.” The impacts of climate change are expected to act as a “threat multiplier” in many of the world’s most unstable regions, exacerbating droughts and other natural disasters as well as leading to food, water, and other resource shortages that may spur mass migrations. The primary driver of climate change—greenhouse gas emissions from the use of fossil fuels—is central to many of the U.S. military’s activities: the military is the world’s top consumer of energy, and many of its activities are dedicated to protecting fossil fuel supplies. Alternative, low-carbon sources of energy will not only reduce the impacts of climate change, but they will also lessen both the human and economic strain of U.S. military operations.

Related Publications & Reports

• Report: Climate Change & International Security: The Arctic as a Bellwether
  C2ES, May 2012
• Op-ed: Take a page from the military: Risk management could reboot climate change debate
  The Hill, February 2011
• Report: Degrees of Risk: Defining a Risk Management Framework for Climate Security
  E3G, February 2011
• Op-ed: IPCC neglects practical tools for coping with risk
  People & Science, December 2010
• Book Chapter: Scientific Uncertainty and the Security Risks of Climate Change
  Jay Gulledge, book chapter in Proceedings on Climate & Energy: Imperatives for Future Naval Forces, 2010
• Report: Uncharted Waters: The U.S. Navy and Navigating Climate Change
  Center for a New American Security, 2009
• Policy Memo: National Security Implications of Global Climate Change
  Center for Climate and Energy Solutions, August 2009
• Report: Lost in Translation: Closing the Gap Between Climate Science and National Security Policy
  Will Rogers and Jay Gulledge, Center for a New American Security, April 2010
• Center for New American Security Climate Change Wargame
  Wargame: Clout and Climate Change, 2008
• Book Chapter: Climate Change Risks in Context of Scientific Uncertainty
  Jay Gulledge, book chapter in The Global Politics of Energy, 2008
• Report: Age of Consequences: The Foreign Policy and National Security Implications of Global Climate Change
  Center for Strategic & International Studies, November 2007
• Report: National Security and the Threat of Climate Change
  CNA Corporation, April 2007

Related Videos

• Scientific Uncertainty and Security Risks of Climate Change
  Jay Gulledge, 90th American Meteorological Society Annual Meeting, January 2010
• Pivot Point: Energy Security and Climate Change
  Center for a New American Security, June 2008
• Climate and National Security: Impacts on Foregin Policy
  Aspen Institute Ideas Festival, 2008