How is the military and defence sector of EU member states adapting to climate risks?

Abstract

Climate change has direct and indirect consequences for the military and defence sector. Direct impacts are for example the damaging of military infrastructure due to more extreme climatic conditions or the impact on operational capabilities when on missions. Indirect impacts include the increase of global instability and insecurity, or migration due to changing climatic conditions. Climate change risks are often seen as a threat multiplier. Whilst the impacts of climate change on the military and defence sector is gaining attention in both political and scientific realms, the way this sector adapts to these risks is, however, still pretty much unknown.

This research aims to assess how the European Union member states’ military and defence sector are adapting to the impacts of climate change. We map and analyse the current policy actions by analysing the defence and climate policy documents (n = 63) and conducting interviews (n = 8) with civil servants of defence ministries across the EU. We find that almost none of the countries have a concrete climate change adaptation plan for their military. Whilst several frontrunner countries do mention climate change in their defence policy documents, they lack concrete policy goals and instruments. Moreover, concrete adaptation measures are not discussed by most of the countries. France is a notable exemption as it offers more detailed policies, but they too are at the groundwork stage. Hardly any reference to the military was found in the climate policy documents of the countries. The results show that the military and defence sector of the EU member states are not well prepared to the impacts of climate change and that concerted action is needed to close the adaptation gap adequately and effectively.