Climate & securityIncreasing Pace, Intensity of Climate Hazards to Compound Security Threats: Report

Published 8 June 2021

The other day the Expert Group of the International Military Council on Climate and Security (IMCCS) released its second annual World Climate and Security Report, which warns of the compound security threats posed by the convergence of climate change with other global risks, such as COVID-19.

The other day the Expert Group of the International Military Council on Climate and Security (IMCCS) released its second annual World Climate and Security Report, which warns of the compound security threats posed by the convergence of climate change with other global risks, such as COVID-19. The report reveals that the increasing pace and intensity of climate hazards will strain military and security services around the world as they are called on to respond to climate-driven crises, while also facing direct climate threats to their own infrastructure and readiness. The authors also call on security institutions around the globe to act as “leading voices urging significantly reduced greenhouse gas emissions, given recent warnings about the catastrophic security implications of climate change under plausible climate scenarios.”

Here is the report’s Key Risks and Opportunities summary:

The key risks and opportunities identified in this section are drawn from the full report, and represent an overview of the document’s main conclusions and recommendations. On the risk side, the report finds that the world is facing “significant or higher security risks under current circumstances” - importantly, across all regions of the world. On the opportunity side, the report’s authors present a “path forward for security cooperation on climate change” that includes moving decisively from acknowledging climate security risks in concepts, plans and strategies to implementing measures to concretely address those risks.

Key Risks: Significant or Higher Risks to Security Under Current Circumstances

1. The convergence of climate change and other risks creates compound security threats for states and societies. As the COVID-19 pandemic has so starkly demonstrated, many countries are unprepared to manage multiple crises simultaneously. For example, the confluence of COVID-19 lockdowns, subsequent economic shocks, and climate change-related droughts and flooding increased food insecurity globally, risking greater instability and conflict in many parts of the world.

2. Climate security risks will continue to intensify across all regions, with new disasters hitting before societies can recover from or adapt to the impact of previous ones. Fragile regions of the world will continue to face the most severe and catastrophic security consequences of climate change, yet no region is immune, as demonstrated - for example - by the unprecedented wildfires in the United States and Australia in 2020.