The European Union is not the alone in exploring the means to address potential security implications of climate change. EU and Member States representatives met recently in Berlin, at a briefing session regarding this topic. Decision makers in the United States however, are also discussing this issue more intensively, as part of the dynamic national debate on the challenges of climate change and energy security. Led by the Senators John Kerry and Richard Lugar, a Senate Hearing was held on “Climate Change and Global Security: Challenges, Threats and Diplomatic Opportunities” in July. The hearing was based on assessments provided most recently by the Department of Defense and last year by the National Intelligence Council. According to Senator Kerry the nexus between today’s threats and climate change are most acute in South Asia, referring to potential terrorist threat emanating from this region. He further outlined that most instruments of US foreign policy will be affected by climate change, for example the readiness of US military operations due to rising sea levels throughout the world.
Senator Lugar linked the question of climate change and conflict to the overall oil dependency of the United States. "As we approach the point when the world's oil-hungry economies are competing for insufficient supplies of energy, oil will become an even stronger magnet for conflict." Lugar outlined that some answers, such as developing renewables, can be useful in addressing a cluster of threats confronting US national security. According to the Senator, the same holds true for the development of clean coal technologies as one the main energy sources, not only in the US but also in China and India. The Hearing in the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations increased momentum for a new US climate and energy policy approach, as envisaged in the House bill introduced by Congress members Edward J. Markey and Henry A. Waxman. It remains to be seen however, if that momentum for a more proactive climate policy approach will last until year’s end to positively influence the national and international climate decision making processes.
For more information on the US Senate Hearing, please see http://foreign.senate.gov/hearings/2009/hrg090721p.html
For the meeting report of the Berlin Briefing on "Climate Change and International Security" facilitated by Adelphi Research, please see http://ecc-platform.org/sites/default/images_old/stories/stories/newsletter/ccis_berlin_2009_briefing_report.pdf
Published in: ECC-Newsletter, August 2009
As December’s UN climate summit in Poland rapidly approaches, it is shaping up to be a race against time to prepare the so-called Paris rulebook, which will govern how the landmark climate agreement will actually be implemented.
Members of the European Parliament voted on Wednesday (10 October) in favour of increasing the EU’s Paris Agreement emissions pledge by 2020. They also urged the European Commission to make sure its long-term climate strategy models net-zero emissions for 2050 “at the latest”.
A new USAID report focuses on the intersection of climate exposure and state fragility worldwide. It finds that the factors that make a country vulberable to large-scale conflict are similar to those that make it vulnerable to climate change. The report thus offers a way for global audiences with an interest in climate and security to identify places of high concern.
A big difference. That was the conclusion the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) came to when it assessed the differences between a 1.5°C and a 2°C warmer world in a landmark special report published in early October. The leading scientific authority on climate change found that the world is likely to pass the 1.5 °C mark between 2030 and 2052 if current emission trends are not interrupted.