All Systems Go: Integrating Climate Security across the U.S. Government

Oct 18, 2021 | Shruti Samala
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President Biden has taken an unequivocal position on climate change: The administration’s first order of business was to issue a series of executive orders aimed at catalyzing climate action. In line with President Biden’s executive order early in his term, the Director of National Intelligence is spearheading the first ever National Estimate on Climate Change. 

The scientific community plays a critical role in communicating current understanding of thresholds, tipping points, systematic risk, and responses within Earth systems. In addition to grounding decision-making with science, the panelists stressed the importance of incorporating a conflict sensitive lens within climate responses. Core to tackling the relationship between climate exposure and fragility are justice, equity, and inclusion. Crucially, information must percolate between and across local, regional, and international scales in order to build capability.

Cross-cutting agency mandates and collaboration between departments has reached an unprecedented level, said Stephanie Epner, Senior Advisor on Climate Change and Foreign Policy at the Office of the Special Envoy for Climate Change. Despite the turning political tide, increasing capacity remains a significant roadblock in U.S. government.