Climate and Military Security

Europe wants to justify its unsuccessful struggle against climate change by its defense needs.

The Hague Centre for Strategic Studies has issued a report that discusses the Netherlands Defense Strategy for Climate Change and Security published on 3 July 2026. In the report Laura Birkman, HCSS Program Director for Climate, Water and Food Security, promotes the idea that climate adaptation serves to strengthen defense security.

This looks like a struggle for budgets, as the report seeks to justify that climate change is not only a risk but also a strategic opportunity for the military: the energy transition can reduce their dependence on vulnerable logistics chains and fossil fuels, increase system deployability, and strengthen autonomy in operations.

The author argues that climate change directly impacts the core of military operations: energy, logistics, personnel, and information. The defense ministry must explicitly link climate to combat power and energy and data security.

Such a linkage is necessitated by the fact that over the past year military spending has become a higher priority than expenses on adaptation to climate change.

The author admits that climate security is not a fixed policy priority for the EU or NATO but a theme that shifts with political attention and strategic framing.

This sensitivity to political trends is evident in the adjustment of language in NATO documents after the Trump administration took office. For instance, the words ‘green technologies’ were replaced with ‘innovative technologies,’ and ‘climate’ was replaced with ‘operational environment’ in some contexts. In addition, climate security was not on the agendas of the NATO summits in both The Hague (2025) and in Ankara (2026). This shows that the political positioning of climate security is less stable than the underlying military insights.

These political and narrative transformations worry climate lobbyists, who seek to prove that their interests are directly related to military security needs. In the report, the author refers to the fact that the Netherlands National Security Strategy recognizes climate change as a risk to vital infrastructure, supply chains and the functioning of society, while the Defence Strategy for Climate Change and Security explicitly recognizes climate as an operational and strategic issue.

Laura Birkman argues that the existing dual-use green technologies can yield significant operational benefits, particularly by reducing dependence on vulnerable logistics chains and fossil fuels. In its 2021 Climate Change and Security Action Plan, NATO emphasizes that diversification of energy sources and the deployment of innovative energy technologies can contribute to the armed forces’ mission endurance and operational effectiveness.

At the same time, the armed forces are slow to achieve their own climate goals. The addition of sustainable aviation fuel, planned for 2024, has not yet been realized. The European fuel system is insufficiently prepared for a protracted crisis or a high-intensity conflict. Declining refining capacity and growing import dependency create a structural tension between civilian efficiency and military preparedness.

Such persistent lobbying for alternative energy under the guise of defense needs indicates that Europe can no longer afford both its fight against climate change and higher defense spending. It has to invent how to merge the two.

Original publication: https://hcss.nl/report/klimaat-als-strategische-factor-nederlandse-defensie-zet-koers-in-onzeker-vaarwater/