At a time when many government agencies are planning for the effects of climate change and with the SEC now saying that publicly traded companies must as well, the Pentagon will announce that it considers climate change an “accelerant of instability”.
In its quadrennial review, the Department of Defense includes a section entitled “DoD’s strategic approach to climate and energy.”
“While climate change alone does not cause conflict, it may act as an accelerant of instability or conflict, placing a burden on civilian institutions and militaries around the world to respond. Additionally, extreme weather events may lead to increased demands for defense support to civil authorities for humanitarian assistance or disaster response within the United States or overseas.”
The DoD plans to complete climate change assessments on all of its installations because of threats posed by sea level rise, heat waves or fire.
In addition to the effects of climate change, the department is looking at energy efficiency and renewable energy, as a means of creating better energy security.
“Energy supply lines are vulnerable to both asymmetric and conventional attacks and/or disruption. Energy efficiency can serve as a force multiplier because it increases the range and endurance of forces in the field and can reduce the number of combat forces diverted to provide force protection for energy supply lines.”
“The Department is moving out smartly to increase use of renewable energy supplies and reduce energy demand both to improve operational effectiveness and to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in support of U.S. climate change initiatives. Indeed, the Military Departments have already invested in non-carbon power sources such as solar, wind, geothermal, and biomass at domestic installations and in alternative vehicle fuels, including hybrid, electric, hydrogen, and compressed national gas (CNG). Solving military challenges – such as more efficient generators, better batteries, lighter materials, and tactically deployed energy sources – has the potential to yield technology spin-offs that benefit the civilian community as well.”
The reports goes on to say that the DoD will partner with academia and other agencies to help develop, test and evaluate new technologies.
The effects of oil reliance and climate change on the military can be deadly, as the report explains. A move toward clean energy limits that reliance, while beginning the fight against the destabilizing factor that will puts our military in dangerous positions around the world. That risk is right here at home, as well.
“Although the United States has significant capacity to adapt to climate change, this will pose challenges for civil society and DoD alike given the nation’s extensive coastal infrastructure. In that regard, in 2008, the National Intelligence Council judged that more than 30 U.S. military installations were already at elevated levels of risk from sea level rise.”
The section on climate change and energy security is part of a four-part review intended to reform the way to department allocates resources and plans, changing the focus to the intended outcome. By that sense, climate change is a factor, both because of its environmental impact and its worldly impact on some of the most vulnerable regions.
