The President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, or PCAS, recently released a set of recommendations for President Obama on addressing climate change. The top-line recommendations include:
- Focus on national preparedness for climate change, which can help decrease damage from extreme weather events now and speed recovery from future damage;
- Continue efforts to decarbonize the economy, with emphasis on the electricity sector;
- Level the playing field for clean-energy and energy-efficiency technologies by removing regulatory obstacles, addressing market failures, adjusting tax policies, and providing time-limited subsidies for clean energy when appropriate;
- Sustain research on next-generation clean-energy technologies and remove obstacles for their eventual deployment;
- Take additional steps to establish U.S. leadership on climate change internationally; and
- Conduct an initial Quadrennial Energy Review.
In regards to the first bullet point, it is worth noting that PCAS recommends action on addressing both the national and international security dimensions of climate change. A sub-recommendation “Designate Departments to serve as leads to oversee the annual creation of climate preparedness plans at home and abroad,” includes the following statement:
A logical choice for domestic preparedness would be the Department of Homeland Security, with the Department of Defense playing the lead role for climate preparedness plans involving events overseas that affect our national security (as they already have responsibility for this).
From a climate and security lens, this all seems like sound advice. Read the full letter here.
