The Department of Defense Climate Risk Analysis describes how climate change is modifying the geostrategic, operational, and tactical landscape. This has significant consequences for the U.S. national security and defense. For instance, threats such as:
- increasing temperatures,
- changing precipitation patterns;
- Frequent, intense, and unpredictable extreme weather conditions
All this creates new security challenges for U.S. interests. The dangers of climate change to American -and its allies- strategies, plans, capabilities, missions are growing.
Actions to address the causes and effects of climate change will be notable in the upcoming security strategic interests, relationships, competition, and priorities of U.S. institutions. To respond to these increasing challenges, the DCRA is organized as follows:
Section I
Introduces the critical security implications of climate change. Also, it includes the role of supporting government and international efforts aligned with allies.
Section II
- Reviews Department of Defense climate policy and responsibilities, highlighting relevant publications.
Section III
- Presents a summary of climate hazards, risks, and security implications.
Section IV
- Outlines how the organization could incorporate climate assessment into the processes and planning.
Section V
- Points out interagency scientific and intelligence products and experts. This collaboration may support future climate risk analyses and expected funds for exercises, wargames, comments, and studies related to climate change.
Section VI
- Concludes the report.
The Department of Defense Climate Risk Analysis serves to understand specific climate effects on plans, resourcing, operations, and missions to integrate climate change into strategic considerations. Furthermore, Department of Defense components will now:
- include climate considerations in relevant risk analyses,
- leverage high-quality data, scenarios, and analytical tools tailored to DoD needs.
The publication strives to prevent, mitigate, and respond to defense and security risks associated with climate change.
Find the full report here.
