Biden admin says climate change poses national security risks, sends delegation to address them
The White House released a fact-sheet about the Biden administration's work at the U.N. Global Climate Change Summit being held this week, detailing the work the U.S. delegation will undergo while in attendance.
The U.S. delegation, according to the fact sheet, will focus on three main pillars while at the climate conference in Azerbaijan, one of which is to address the national security "risks" that climate change poses.
"At COP29, the U.S. delegation will promote U.S. efforts to seize the economic opportunities of the clean energy transition, address the risks climate change poses to our national security, and accelerate climate action in this decisive decade," the fact sheet stated.
The document pointed to nuclear energy production and clean energy capacity as two main components the climate delegation would focus on pertaining to national security.
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Meanwhile, in September, the Biden administration released a "U.S. Framework for Climate Resilience and Security," which posited that the U.S. national security community "has long understood" the threat that climate change poses to "existing security threats and vulnerabilities."
The framework cited increased flooding and severe storms impacting military bases, extreme heat that "costs lives, reduces productivity and damages critical infrastructure," decreased food security as the result of droughts and air pollution. It also pointed to the need for the military to respond to increased disasters caused by climate change, which the framework said works to drain its resources.
"The devastating impacts of the climate crisis increasingly are themselves the new direct threats from which we must protect our communities," the framework stated. It was signed by John Podesta, senior advisor to the president for International Climate Policy, and Jake Sullivan, assistant to the president for National Security Affairs.
During President Biden's first few days in office, he signed a series of executive orders that made "climate central to foreign policy planning, to diplomacy and to national security preparedness," according to John Kerry, Biden's former climate envoy. Biden was the first president in U.S. history to direct U.S. intelligence agencies to study the national security risks that climate change poses.