Notable institutions, such as the United Nations and the European Union, have declared that climate change endangers international security. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) shares these concerns and has expressed a desire to influence the global movement to meet this threat. However, the suitability and practicability of this objective have elicited conflicting opinions. For sceptics, an alliance predicated on safeguarding its members from the hostile actions of other states lacks a compelling rationale for mobilizing against climate change. Others argue that NATO, which has a history of facilitating cooperation on environmental issues and through scientific venues, can and must make institutional space for climate change in the interests of global security and operational efficiency. But the amount of attention or effort that NATO should devote to climate change varies depending on the observer. Furthermore, pundits have diverged on which of the strategies put forward— frameworks premised on specific theories or the invocation of Article 5, the North Atlantic Treaty’s collective defence clause, for instance— should influence or guide NATO as the alliance navigates climate change.
This volume wades into and complements, amplifies, and advances these debates by surveying climate change and its ramifications for global security, especially for the thirty-member strong (and growing) alliance. Indeed, while not necessarily their focus, NATO appears in each of the nine original contributions herein and provides the connective thread that binds seemingly disparate topics into a coherent discourse. Through these analyses, which in totality offer a tour d’horizon and appraisal of the security situation on a hotter Earth, the extensive, globe-spanning, and significant complexities that climate change presents NATO and other actors come into sharper focus.
Collectively, these nine articles illuminate and emphasize several points. The first involves the magnitude of the climate change threat and necessity for broad-based action. Increasingly, observers assert that climate change has emerged as a danger—or even paramount threat—to global security.
This volume also stresses the centrality of multilateralism and especially intergovernmental institutions like NATO in minimizing the security dangers connected to climate change, a global and all-embracing phenomenon that does not respect lines on a map. The essays here make plain that security issues linked to climate change can become geographically expansive. Thus, a climate-related episode outside of NATO’s territorial boundaries and ostensibly far removed from member states can potentially have implications for them. Consequently, the international exchanges and transnational initiatives that multilateral institutions facilitate become critical in dealing with the universal nature of climate change and its effects. As one external observer comments, “success depends on everyone playing their full part,” including NATO.
Finally, these essays show that NATO’s mandate has broadened to encompass “non-traditional threats” like climate change. But these efforts have achieved mixed results. Although NATO has made undeniable and ever-greater strides to plan for climate-related contingencies, notably high-profile endeavours like the Climate Change and Security Centre of Excellence (COE) discussed here, these measures remain arguably incommensurate with the scope of the problem.
However, there exists room for cautious optimism within this volume. The collection’s essays suggest that the alliance and its member states and partner organizations can make an impact on this front—if they desire. After all, the alliance has demonstrated an uncanny aptitude for staying current and responsive to developing threats like climate change. Importantly, these articles show that the possibility of enhanced NATO involvement on climate change holds potential for improved global security and would bring advantages for the alliance, notably readying the organization to deploy successfully within a security environment that a hotter planet increasingly and determinatively shapes.
This is a short excerpt from a publication originally published with the NATO Association of Canada. To read the full report, use the link here.