Climate Chaos: Confronting the Real Existential Threat

Dear friend —

Last Friday I was briefed by a senior director at the National Security Council on the administration’s thinking going into the U.N. climate summit — and I asked them why they were jeopardizing critical international cooperation on climate in favor of confrontation with China.  

The fact is, despite recognizing climate change as an existential threat and putting forward some ambitious domestic proposals to counteract it, the Biden administration has been far more focused on pursuing a “great power competition” with China. 

These are contradictory goals. Escalating tension with China creates a massive obstacle to effectively addressing climate change.

In a new policy brief and article, QI’s Senior Research Fellow Anatol Lieven makes the case that climate change is the greatest threat to U.S. national security, eclipsing by orders of magnitude those posed by China, Russia, or any other rival. 

Accordingly, the U.S. must prioritize international collaboration to counter climate change. Great power competition not only distracts attention from this effort, but actively hinders it by diverting resources toward a new arms race. 

This is yet another reason why a foreign policy based on global military domination makes America less safe.  

There is no solution to climate change without a shift in our foreign policy that subordinates great power rivalries to our mutual interest in climate cooperation and mitigation. Scientific solutions alone will not get us there. 

We at the Quincy Institute are leading the charge in Washington to shift our foreign policy away from military domination and toward the type of American diplomacy and leadership that can make true climate collaboration possible. 

Please join us by making a tax-deductible contribution of $250 (or whatever amount is right for you) today so that we can win this together!