Friday October 22, 2021
Report warns on three points
Intelligence: Climate threatens US security
Climate change and its consequences are nowhere near as far removed from rich industrial countries as many believe. The 18 US secret services see a threat to the “national security” of the US. Because not only global warming itself is a problem, but also the resulting conflicts in the world.
The US secret services have for the first time prepared a special report on the effects of climate change and classified global warming as a threat to national security. “We believe that climate change will increasingly exacerbate the risks to US national security interests,” said the report submitted by intelligence coordinator Avril Haines. Not only would the effects of global warming itself increase, but also “geopolitical tensions over how to respond to the challenge”.
Under the item “geopolitical tensions”, the 18 US secret services cite, among other things, a dispute over the question of which country should reduce its emissions of greenhouse gases and to what extent and pay for the financing of climate protection measures. “In addition, countries will compete over the control of resources and dominant new technologies necessary for a transition to clean energy.” The report makes particular reference to China.
Under the second point, “cross-border geopolitical trouble spots”, the secret services list a “growing risk of conflicts over water and migration” as a result of global warming. There are also warnings of conflicts over the Arctic, where a shrinking ice layer is likely to intensify the competition for raw materials.
Finally, as a third point, the report refers to the threat of “instability” within states as a result of, among other things, food and energy shortages. Developing countries are most likely to be affected by this.
Adapt defense and border policy?
In their analysis, the secret services warn that the goal anchored in the Paris climate protection agreement of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees in the long term will “most likely” be missed. Therefore, the effects of climate change are likely to increase. The report was published around ten days before the start of the UN climate change conference COP26 in Glasgow. It is the first time that the US intelligence services have presented a so-called National Intelligence Service assessment on the subject of climate change.
The White House said government departments and agencies responsible for US security are planning the effects of climate change. This affects, among other things, the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Homeland Security, which is responsible for border security.
US President Joe Biden has made the fight against global warming one of the main concerns of his policy. He has an ambitious climate protection agenda, the concrete implementation of which is met with opposition in Congress. Under Biden, the United States had returned to the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, from which his predecessor Donald Trump had led the country.