Military and civilian leaders from 19 North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) members and partner nations convened at the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) to share knowledge and address solutions to one of the most powerful forces effecting global security today – climate change.
NATO’s Centre for Maritime Research and Experimentation (CMRE) and NPS collaborated to launch their first Climate Change and Security course on September 23, 2024. The course supported common objectives in the Secretary of the Navy’s Climate Action 2030 strategic plan, as well as the Naval Education Strategy to address common challenges and enhance partnerships through opportunities to learn alongside our allies and partners.
According to scientific attribution studies, the record-breaking hot sea surface temperatures that fueled recent hurricanes Helene and Milton were both stronger and more destructive to communities in the southeastern United States due to global warming induced climate change. The U.S. is not alone.
It’s climate disasters like these, occurring across the planet, that make cooperation between international partners and allies more critical than ever when building resiliency and finding sustainable solutions to the global security threats caused by the intensifying worldwide climate crisis.
“The weeklong course was designed for mid-career government officials and military officers who are responsible for supporting senior staff in strategic decision-making that addresses climate change and security issues,” said NPS researcher Kristen Fletcher, who helped develop, organize, and co-lead the course for NPS.
Fletcher, who cofounded the NPS Climate and Security Network, emphasized the importance of the interactions between the attendees.
“The course is more than information sharing and analysis of the extremely challenging problems that climate change poses to military operations,” she said. “It also creates a strong network for attendees to share experiences, find ongoing support, and continue working together when they return home.”
In attendance were faculty and participants from 19 countries, which included NATO members Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, Norway, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, U.K. and U.S. Attendees from Australia, Austria and Switzerland, which are NATO partner countries, also participated.
Paul Rushton, the course’s NATO co-lead, serves as the lead for the Climate Change and Security team in NATO’s Innovation, Hybrid and Cyber Division (IHC). He believed the course was the first step toward fulfilling crucial needs of the nations.
“There's a huge demand for dedicated climate change and security training, especially with a focus on military and security sector stakeholders,” Rushton said. “There’s a genuine gap at the moment. We intend to take the lessons that we've learned from this course, build on this experience, and use it as part of the foundation for our next courses.”
On March 7, 2024, Sweden became the newest member of NATO, following Finland, which had become a NATO member in 2023.
“We are new to NATO, so it's a great opportunity to learn more about their work,” said Jenny Lundén, the head of Branch Capability Development for the Swedish Defense Research Agency. “I think the NATO network and community are very important.”
As with the other attendees, she sees the impacts of human-made climate change firsthand.
“We see a shift in the seasons,” she said. “Winter comes later, and summer has become longer. And it’s warmer in the north.”
A former Arctic ice researcher, Lundén continued, “In supporting future studies for the Swedish armed forces, climate change and security plays an important role because it affects the operation of the military.”
During the course, content sessions included climate change science, energy security, operational impacts, resiliency, and financial and policy topics. A tabletop exercise also ran throughout the course, allowing participants to break into teams that focused on science and environment, security impacts, human and social impacts, and operational challenges of climate change covering three different regions—the Arctic/High North, Eastern Flank, and Middle East and North Africa.
Policy officer Marijana Petrov, who attended from the Czech Republic’s Ministry of Defense, recognized the valuable opportunity for her country to learn more about climate security and to engage with the other nations.
“I've been having a lot of discussions with colleagues from other countries who are steps ahead of where we are. So, it's very useful for me to hear about their approaches and best practices,” she said.
In what’s becoming a frightfully too common severe event around the globe, only 10 days prior to the course, extreme rain caused catastrophic flooding in the Czech Republic and the surrounding countries, including Germany, Austria, Slovakia and Poland. One Czech town received 435 mm (17 inches) of rainfall over three days, while flooding put another town 80 percent underwater.
“A priority is defining questions that we need to ask ourselves at the ministry,” Petrov added. “I’m bringing back ideas to set for climate change and security goals, and I hope we can implement them.”
Inadequate or nonexistent climate change and security policies inhibit the ability of the military to meet their operational responsibilities, which threaten the security of nations and global stability.
A recent law school graduate and fellow of the inaugural class of the NPS-Stanford Climate Security Fellowship, Rebecca Grippo helped organize the course and presented two sessions related to economics, policy, and law.
“Climate change case law is indicative of policy trends but is also setting them,” Grippo explained. “We’re seeing a lot that concerns the military right now, so we must have a very good understanding of the policies that govern what the military can and cannot do. This will show what isn’t working well enough and what more needs to be done.”
Recognizing the importance of collaboration between the Department of Defense (DOD) and NATO allies needed to address the climate crisis, Grippo was excited by the large number of countries in attendance. Joining forces with the Navy, the U.S. Army fielded both faculty and participants.
“We focus on what the Army's impact is on the environment, but also what the environment's impact is on the Army. So, climate change falls within this realm,” said Army Lt. Col. Matt Horwatt, director of Environmental Security to the Assistant Secretary of the Army, Installations, Energy & Environment (ASA IE&E) and a member of NATO’s Environmental Protection Working Group.
“In this course, I'm seeing professionals who are looking at climate change and security from all different angles, all different countries, all different positions and all different areas of influence where they can actually make change,” he said. “I think that's really encouraging. And I think having the tools to help us translate decision making into a form that our senior leaders and policymakers can understand and appreciate is a phenomenal resource.”
Horwatt is also part of the leadership that started the U.S. Army War College Environmental Security Scholars Program this year. Like the NPS-Stanford Climate Security Fellowship, which started last year and is now beginning its second class, the Army scholars study climate change. In addition, their concentration also encompasses the multifaceted aspects of environmental security needed to maintain or gain strategic advantages.
“For too long, the military as a whole has focused on the three B’s—beans, bodies, and bullets. That’s usually what drives resourcing and missions,” said Horwatt. “But there’s a fourth aspect to consider—the environment. If we're not taking care of our environment and natural resources, then what are we fighting for? Who are we actually protecting? At the end of the day what we want is to help people and their communities.”
Participants said the curriculum and collaboration were exceptional, and NPS and NATO planners are looking to continue with future climate and security courses in 2025.