When senior officials from 32 countries meet in Washington, DC next week for the NATO Summit, deterrence and defense, as well as Ukraine and global partnerships, are at the top of the agenda. As NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg observed at a recent Wilson Center event: “The war in Ukraine demonstrates that our security is not regional, it is global – not least because of the support we know Russia is getting from China and others.”

Under Stoltenberg’s leadership, NATO has recognized that climate change is also reshaping the security landscape. In 2021, NATO launched a Climate Change and Security Action Plan which positions the organization as a leader in understanding and adapting to climate impacts on security. Two years later, the NATO Climate Change and Security Centre of Excellence (CCASCOE) was established in Montreal.

What’s the viewpoint from within NATO on this essential work? “NATO has always adapted to changing conditions,” says Paul Rushton, team lead for Climate Change and Security in NATO’s Innovation, Hybrid and Cyber (IHC) Division, in today’s episode of New Security Broadcast. “That’s the nature of the Alliance. It’s why it has persisted and thrived for 75 years.”

Climate Change as a Strategic Threat

“[I]f you look at what any given NATO force faces in a specific context,” says Rushton, “you’ll see that climate change is affecting what troops on the ground are expected to deal with and the challenges they’re expected to surmount. It affects how their equipment functions, it affects how they’re supplied, how they’re trained, what kind of demands they face.” For example, extreme heat in Iraq has forced NATO to limit training missions on “Black Flag” days to avoid endangering the health of military personnel.

However, as Rushton notes, climate and insecurity are intertwined in even more complex ways than just the direct effects on soldiers. During the 2023 floods in Slovenia, a disinformation campaign painted Russia as the only country that stepped up to help. “The multinational effort to aid Slovenia was underway,” says Rushton, “but that didn’t stop bad actors from using a climate-driven natural disaster to attempt to pursue other policy goals to undermine support for Ukraine and the cohesion of the alliance.”

Rushton notes that the linkage between increasing climate exigency and more conventional and continuing threats to NATO countries makes new thinking imperative. “There’s no getting around the fact that we’re having to simultaneously confront a changing climate, everywhere we operate, and a more aggressive and assertive Russia that’s determined to undermine the international order,” he says. “And in a perfect world, we wouldn’t be dealing with two generational crises like this at the same time, but we don’t get to pick which grave strategic deterioration we deal with at any given moment.”

Balancing Emissions Mitigation and Operational Effectiveness

NATO has committed to reaching net zero by 2050. The goal represents a significant challenge. The carbon footprints of militaries are significant, due to their extensive use of fossil fuels in logistics, exercises, and conflicts. Yet Rushton asserts that achieving net zero will not reduce operational effectiveness. He sees NATO’s climate action plan as an investment in increasing its capabilities and effectiveness.

Rushton observes that the so-called “Standardization Agreements” within NATO—which set goals and expectations for member states—are a key platform to reach net zero. “We’re looking at how we can mainstream lower greenhouse gas footprints, improved efficiency, and adaptation into the Standardization Agreements that form the foundation of NATO’s interoperability,” he continues. “And those give us an opportunity to find new energy savings and mainstream them, really put them in the bloodstream of the Alliance’s operations over the years to come.”

Integrating Climate Security NATO’s Bureaucratic DNA

NATO’s focus on climate security is one of a number of serious efforts underway to integrate it into defense policies, bureaucracies, and processes. At NATO, climate security is now “getting down into the bureaucratic DNA of the organization,” says Rushton.

One clear example is the recent accreditation of NATO’s Climate Change and Security Centre of Excellence, which saw it formally join the organization’s network of COEs in May. As an independent center for expertise, analysis, training, and development of policy and doctrine, Rushton says the CCASCOE will be a “force multiplier” for the Alliance to build a shared understanding of climate security threats.

“Where we spend most of our time, and certainly where I spend my time, is making sure that this gets built into the bones of everything that NATO is doing,” concludes Rushton. “This means we are integrating it at the working level, at the platoon level – even our training and exercises begin to reflect how the climate is impacting our interoperability and continues to evolve to reflect the changing global environment.”