„Project 2025 indicates an interest in eliminating climate action“

Erin Sikorsky, Director of the Center for Climate and Security at the Council on Strategic Risks, outlines the differences of Trump’s and Harris‘ potential climate policy.

By Erin Sikorsky

The next US President will find that climate change affects every aspect of foreign and security policy, from the direct impacts of climate-related hazards on critical infrastructure and military resilience, to the amplifying effects on stability, food and water security, conflict, and geopolitical competition. The Biden Administration has put climate front and center in its national security agenda like never before, and the question now is whether the next president will build on that agenda or reverse progress.

Vice President Harris provided the deciding vote in favor of the Inflation Reduction Act, the most significant investment in clean energy and climate action in US history, while former President Trump pulled the US out of the Paris Agreement in his previous term and would be likely to do it again. A key challenge for either leader will be increasing demands from the Global South for investments in climate finance and the geopolitical fallout if the US does not live up to its commitments.

Support for building military resilience to climate hazards has traditionally received bipartisan support in the United States, and could be an entry point in a Trump Administration. However, Project 2025, a likely policy blueprint for Trump, indicates an interest in eliminating climate action in national security institutions.

Erin Sikorsky is the Director of the Center for Climate and Security at the Council on Strategic Risks.