CYPRUS MIRROR
CYPRUS MIRROR
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Global Warming a Security Threat, Armies Must Adapt: Experts

Global Warming a Security Threat, Armies Must Adapt: Experts

From responding to weather disasters to rising competition in the fast-warming Arctic, militaries are exposed to climate change and cannot let it become a strategic "blind spot," security experts say.

Publish Date: 23/04/25 10:53
reading time: 4 min.
Global Warming a Security Threat, Armies Must Adapt: Experts
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Concerns have grown recently that climate action is being sidelined as Europe beefs up defense and the U.S. retreats from allies and its green commitments.

But defense departments have already underscored that a warming planet poses major national security challenges and militaries need to adapt to respond to these evolving threats.

"You can't escape this. Climate doesn't care who's president or what your political goals are at the moment," said Erin Sikorsky, director of the Washington-based Center for Climate & Security.

"It is coming, and militaries need to be prepared," she said.

In the U.S., where President Donald Trump's administration has scrubbed global warming from government websites, the latest intelligence threat assessment made no mention of climate change.

Sikorsky said this leaves crucial strategic gaps, particularly when it comes to renewable energy superpower China and the race for supremacy in the Arctic, where the loss of sea ice is opening up shipping lanes and access to resources.

"What I worry about, as someone who worked in national security for a long time, is this blind spot puts the U.S. at risk," she said.

In Europe, Russia's invasion of Ukraine sparked energy security fears and accelerated many countries' renewables ambitions.

But in recent months countries have slashed international development aid, throwing climate budgets into question as spending priorities turn to defense and trade.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock last month acknowledged the "extremely challenging" geopolitical situation but insisted that climate action remained a "top security policy."

The country plans a half trillion dollar spending "bazooka" for military and infrastructure, coupled with 100 billion euros for climate measures.

"Anyone thinking about security needs to think about climate as well. We are already living in the climate crisis," said an assessment commissioned by Germany's foreign and defense ministries in February.

It said climate challenges were emerging over "the entire range of military tasks," with increased risks including large-scale crop failures, conflict and instability.

In a September report, the U.K.'s Ministry of Defense said humanity's impact on climate and the environment "continues to have far-reaching consequences, putting significant pressure on societies and economies and threatening the very existence of some states."

Warming itself also has major operational implications.

Extreme temperatures can risk the health of soldiers and even reduce the amount of cargo that planes can carry, said Sikorsky.

"Militaries no longer have a choice about the fact that they're going to be operating in a very different world to what they do today," said Duncan Depledge from Loughborough University, who studies the implications of climate for militaries.

 

Source: HDN 

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