The Pentagon and Climate Change Policy: Strategy Needed

The specter of global warming has frightened environmental activists and business owners alike. Both groups have repeatedly voiced their concern and their desire for a viable plan to deal with the consequences of climate change. As long as the US remains uncommitted to a long-term strategy to deal with the issue, businesses will have difficulty planning for the future. But businesses are not the only ones with this problem: John Podesta and James Ogden argue that the Pentagon also needs certainty in climate change policy to effectively plan for the future. According to their article in the Financial Times,

"Planning for future contingencies is a long-term process, as force structure and weapons systems have to be co-ordinated at least a decade in advance."

The military must have an accurate sense of the likely effects of climate change and the policies implemented to combat climate change in order to plan for its future responsibilities, including natural disaster relief, assisting failing states afflicted by adverse environmental consequences, and planning for base preparation and relocation in the event of sea level rise. The authors believe that by emphasizing the necessity for certainty the Pentagon could be a powerful advocate of a climate change policy.