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Building Climate Security at the State and Local Level
By Tom Ellison and Noah Fritzhand
Introduction: Is All Climate Security Local?
Climate change and security discussions often focus on national and global challenges, but climate security risks are relevant for US states and cities as well. Recently, Hurricanes Helene and Milton and the Los Angeles wildfires have cost lives and livelihoods, strained infrastructure and insurance markets, enabled extremists, and triggered damaging disinformation, underscoring the local and national security impacts of such hazards. Since 2022, the National Guard and other US military forces have deployed on average more than weekly for climate-related hazards in the United States. State and city authorities play key roles in building resilience to these strains, ranging from public safety and emergency services, governance of climate-vulnerable infrastructure, or planning adaptation efforts for wildfires and coastal hazards. These challenges are growing increasingly urgent as the US federal government cuts support for climate and weather data and forecasting and disaster relief, even as climate change intensifies and the United States approaches wildfire and hurricane season.
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Event Summary: Progressing Efforts on the Declaration on Climate, Relief, Recovery, and Peace
By Noah Fritzhand, Amineh Najam-ud-din and Kamsi Obiorah
Introduction
On 16 October, the Center for Climate and Security (CCS), International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Mercy Corps, and the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) convened key stakeholders for a roundtable discussion on Progressing Efforts on the Declaration on Climate, Relief, Recovery, and Peace (RRP Declaration). Signed into existence at COP28 by some 90 states, including the United States, and 40 international partners, this landmark declaration calls for bold and collective action to build climate resilience at the scale and speed necessary to support highly vulnerable communities, including those threatened by fragility or conflict, or facing severe humanitarian needs.
Nearly one year after the signing, this discussion brought together humanitarian, development, climate, and US officials from various agencies to assess progress on these commitments, share concrete examples of efforts that have or have not been successful, and discuss lessons learned. The roundtable was held under Chatham House Rule, and the list of guiding questions can be found in Annex 1 of this summary.
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The US Department of Defense’s Role in Integrating Climate Change into Security Planning
This piece by Sherri Goodman and Max Nathanson was originally published at the New Security Beat.
The recent floods and landslides in Brazil, displacing almost 100,000 and killing at least 100, reminds us that climate change-fueled extreme weather, combined with an intense El Niño, is a deadly combination. Governor Eduardo Leite of the southern Brazilian province, Rio Grande du Sol, described the devastation the region was subjected to as “unprecedented.” As President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva noted: “We need to stop running behind disasters. We need to see in advance what calamities might happen and we need to work.”
How should the US government integrate these climate change concerns into its defense and security planning? More specifically, what roles should the Department of Defense (DoD) play in this overall effort, and how should DoD integrate within the overall government effort?
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And Air Force Makes Three… Comparing the U.S. Army, Navy and Air Force Climate Plans
By John Conger
With the release of the U.S. Department of the Air Force Climate Action Plan on October 5, 2022, we now have climate plans developed by each of the military departments. The Army published its Army Climate Strategy in February 2022 and the Navy released Climate Action 2030 in May 2022. Below, I’ll highlight some of the key similarities and differences between the three approaches, which will help us develop a more complete forecast for where and how the Department of Defense (DoD) will address the security challenge posed by climate change.
Just as the three military departments have their own distinct cultures and personalities, these three plans are quite different, even as they all move toward a common set of goals.
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