13 October 2014: The US Department of Defense (DoD) has released the ‘2014 Climate Change Adaptation Roadmap’ to address the threats that climate change poses to US national security and to plan ahead for a wide range of contingencies. The report explains that: climate change will affect the DoD’s ability to defend the country and poses immediate risks to US national security; and the DoD is responding through adaptation and mitigation activities.

The Roadmap describes ways to increase the DoD’s resilience to the impacts of climate change, and outlines three adaptation goals: identify and assess the effects of climate change on the DoD; integrate climate change considerations across the department and manage associated risks; and collaborate with internal and external stakeholders on climate change challenges.

US Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel described climate change as a “threat multiplier,” noting that increasing global temperatures, changing precipitation patterns, rising sea levels and increased frequency of extreme weather events would exacerbate the challenges of global instability, hunger, poverty and conflict, likely leading to food and water shortages, disease, disputes over refugees and resources, and destruction by natural disasters.

During the launch of the report, Hagel noted the impacts of climate change on the US military, which could be increasingly required to support civil authorities and provide humanitarian assistance and disaster relief in light of more frequent and intense natural disasters. He said uncertainty cannot be an excuse for delaying action, and that planning and mitigating now could reduce adverse impacts in the future. He said that, while climate change is a long-term trend, adverse impacts could be reduced with wise planning and risk mitigation.

Hagel also said the DoD was integrating climate change considerations into its plans, operations and training in order to manage associated risks, as well as considering climate change impacts in war games and defense planning scenarios. He stressed the importance of working with other countries to share tools for assessing and managing climate change impacts, and to help build their capacity to respond. Hagel emphasized that defense ministers and experts must be part of the global discussion on climate change, including at the upcoming twentieth session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 20) to the UNFCCC to be held December 2014 in Peru. [Publication: DoD 2014 Climate Change Adaptation Roadmap] [US Secretary of Defense Blog Post]