Unpacking the Pentagon’s $3.1 Billion Climate Request

May 5, 2022 | John Conger
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On March 28, the U.S. Federal Budget request for Fiscal Year 2023 (FY2023) was released, officially kicking off the Congressional budget season and the ensuing posture testimonies, staffer briefs, and associated deep dives into the details of the budget.

 The slides indicated that the DoD characterized $3.1 billion of its budget request as “climate investment” in four categories: Installation Resiliency and Adaptation ($2 billion); Science and Technology ($807 million); Operational Energy and Buying Power ($247 million); and Contingency Preparedness ($28 million).  These categories roughly line up with similar categories from FY2022 but represent significant increases in each. 

As of April 21, however, the Pentagon has now released the first-ever detailed justification book on DoD climate spending that outlines these investments across 42 pages. 

The key takeaway is that the $3.1 billion isn’t a distraction or a siphoning off of DoD funding from other priorities. Instead, it’s funding that supports and enhances DoD missions, ensuring the U.S. military will be able to perform its national defense mission in an environment increasingly disrupted by a rapidly-changing climate.