NATO and climate change

In recent years climate change has become an issue for NATO. Notably, climate change features prominently in the 2022 Strategic Concept. It was not always thus. When NATO celebrated its 70th anniversary in 2019, the topic was confined to obscurity, despite the fact that the interlinkages between security, defence and climate change were widely known. This article examines how and why climate change has suddenly risen to importance. The paper identifies NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg as the chief driver behind NATO’s newfound concern. Stoltenberg used NATO’s root and branch initiative, NATO 2030, as a vehicle to push through his long-term concern about the state of the climate. But how deep – beyond the Secretary General’s office - is the commitment to climate change, and will it survive Stoltenberg’s departure, and Trump’s arrival? To find out, this paper examines to what extent climate security has trickled down within the NATO structure, including to operations, education and installations.