How organized credibility enables climate action: the U.S. climate security coalition as a credibility machine

ABSTRACT Organized denial has played an outsize role in frustrating U.S. climate progress. At the same time, a constellation of national security experts, think tanks and defense personnel have promoted a climate security frame for over a decade to advance climate action. This climate security coalition constructs credibility, serving as an implicit counterpoint to organized denial. A case study of two regions with large defense complexes and the climate security policy community reveals that credibility is constructed through two mechanisms: (1) individual climate security champions employ framing and communication tactics to persuade other decision-makers and (2) a coalition of these champions and other policy actors coordinate across levels of governance while bridging military and civilian realms. The climate security coalition accomplishes a form of multilevel governance, advancing adaptation through planning, policy, and consolidating resources. In this case, organized credibility helps to overcome ineffective framing and governmental fragmentation, two of the most persistent barriers to urban climate action. In addition to these concrete results, recognizing this non-environmental approach as an aspect of a credibility machine confers it power as an organizing strategy. This has potential to translate to other domains, further extending the constituency for climate action beyond the usual suspects.