Military bases and other defense assets face substantial risks from climate change in the United States and across the world. This year’s National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) bill from the Senate addresses many of these climate risks and invests in clean energy while the House version championed by hyper-partisan House Republicans largely misses the opportunity to address this existential threat to our national security.
Bases in all 50 states face a range of climate threats.
Over 50% of all military bases or installations, including sites in all 50 states and the Navy’s major shipyard in Hampton Roads, have already suffered damage from or are at risk of damage from climate-fueled disasters and risks. In 2018, when the Department of Defense (DoD) assessed the threats of climate change to its strategic infrastructure it found that:
- 782 military installations were affected by drought,
- 763 were threatened by wind damage,
- 706 were threatened by non-storm surge flooding,
- 351 were threatened by extreme temperatures,
- 225 were impacted by flooding from storm surges sites and,
- 210 were affected by wildfires.
Given that this survey was done in 2018 and the world has continued to warm, trends suggest that even more facilities are now at risk. Billion-dollar weather disasters have pummeled bases in recent years, with hurricanes damaging Tyndall Air Force Base in Florida and Camp Lejeune in North Carolina and floods inundating Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska, home to U.S. Strategic Command (USSTRATCOM), in 2019. Military bases in the Arctic are also already seeing climate-related damages.
Climate change threatens our national security.
A more recent DoD report in 2021 goes beyond climate risks to bases to highlight the effects of climate change at every level of the DoD enterprise. This includes DoD’s geostrategic, operational, and tactical roles supporting both the U.S. government and efforts by our allies and international partners. Further, the military has long designated climate change as a “threat multiplier” to national security, and investments in clean energy research and development within the military can accelerate the broader clean energy transition.
