What Would a Climate-Focused DoD Budget Look Like?
It’d be less about what we spend and more about how we spend the money we already have.
By John Conger
Director, Center for Climate and Security
November 11, 2020
President-elect Joe Biden has said that he has no plans for major defense budget cuts. At the same time, House Armed Services Committee Chairman Adam Smith, D-Washington, has indicated that he expects progressive members would be prepared to fight for reductions. As a way to thread this needle, some observers have speculated that rather than cuts, there may be a greater emphasis on COVID or climate change impacts within the defense budget.
What would a greater emphasis on climate change in the budget look like?
It’s complicated. There’s no “climate change†line item in the budget, and there’s a lot one can do to take the security threats from climate change seriously without moving money around. A climate-focused DoD budget is at least as much about how you spend the money you were already planning to spend as it is about spending new money.
https://www.defenseone.com/ideas/2020/11/what-would-climate-focused-dod-budget-look/169966/
