Climate change poses just as much of a threat to U.S. national security as terrorism, weapons of mass destruction, cyberattacks and Russian aggression, according to an updated national security strategy released by the Obama administration Friday.
"Climate change is an urgent and growing threat to our national security, contributing to increased natural disasters, refugee flows, and conflicts over basic resources like food and water," the White House said in the 35-page document, reported The Hill.
"The present day effects of climate change are being felt from the Arctic to the Midwest," the document read. "Increased sea levels and storm surges threaten coastal regions, infrastructure, and property. In turn, the global economy suffers, compounding the growing costs of preparing and restoring infrastructure."
Timely and effective actions against climate change will increase the security of the U.S. and its allies, the White House claims.
These actions include "national emissions reductions, international diplomacy and our commitment to the Green Climate Fund," the White House said in a statement.
Presient Barack Obama has made climate change a central issue of his second term, saying in his State of the Union address last month that "no challenge - no challenge - poses a greater threat to future generations than climate change." He's even taken executive action to ensure that his climate agenda makes it past GOP lawmakers skeptical of anthropogenic climate change.
The U.S. previously committed to cut emissions from 26 to 28 percent below 2005 levels by 2025, and the strategy pledges to develop "an ambitious new global climate change agreement."
In a statement released Friday, Secretary of State John Kerry said, "It's a strategy to promote our values in a world where no ocean, no fence, and no firewall can shield us from the reality of threats across the globe."
"In the 21st Century, next door is everywhere," Kerry added.
One group, the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity, was quick to protest Obama's focus on climate change, saying his agenda itself is the real threat to national security.
"The mere suggestion that climate change is akin to public health crises, dangerous radical groups and a host of other immediate - and legitimate - security threats is absurd," spokeswoman Laura Sheehan said in a statement, reported U.S. News and World Report. "President Obama's climate change regulations are, in fact, the real threat to our national security, putting the lives of families at risk, hamstringing our economy and undermining domestic energy production."
