The Climate-Nuclear-Security Project (CNSP)

 

The Climate-Nuclear-Security Project

 The Climate-Nuclear-Security Project (CNSP) is the first project of the CRL,  bringing together the experience and expertise housed within the Center for Climate and Security (CCS) and the Center on Strategic Weapons (CSW), as well as the broader climate security and nuclear security policy communities. The CNSP recognizes that climate and nuclear risks are growing more complex and interconnected, and are beginning to converge in new ways. Understanding and managing this risk landscape requires climate, nuclear and security experts to break down issue sector barriers and develop joint solutions.

Team:

Christine Parthemore, Manager, Climate-Nuclear-Security Program
cparthemore at csrisks dot org

Andrea Rezzonico, Assistant Director, The Climate-Nuclear-Security Program
arezzonico at csrisks dot org

Featured report

               

More: 

• Council on Strategic Risks BRIEFER No. 11, “Connecting Nuclear and Climate Policy in the Biden Administration,” November 2020
• Council on Strategic Risks BRIEFER No. 10, “Brazil: A Climate, Nuclear and Security Hotspot,” October 2020
• Council on Strategic Risks BRIEFER No. 9, “Converging Risks in South Asia: Is a Disruptive Transition on the Horizon?,” July 2020
• Council on Strategic Risks BRIEFER No. 8, “Climate and Nuclear Security in the South China Sea: The Cases of Indonesia and the Philippines,” June 2020
• Council on Strategic Risks BRIEFER No. 7, “Nuclear Energy Developments, Climate Change and Security in Turkey,” April 2020
• Council on Strategic Risks BRIEFER No. 6, “Climate Risks to India’s Nuclear Program,” March 2020
• Council on Strategic Risks BRIEFER No. 5, “Climate Risks to India’s Internal Security,” March 2020
• Council on Strategic Risks BRIEFER No. 4, “Climate Change and the India-Pakistan Rivalry,” January 2020
• Council on Strategic Risks BRIEFER No. 3, “Converging Risks in Nigeria: Nuclear Energy Plans, Climate Fragility, and Security Trends,” August 2019
• Working Group on Climate, Nuclear and Security Affairs – “Increasing Concern over Climate and Security Trends in Nuclear Weapon Capable States,” March 2019
• Working Group on Climate, Nuclear and Security Affairs – “Report Two: A Clear Path for Complex Threats,” May 2018
• Working Group on Climate, Nuclear and Security Affairs – “Breakout Briefer:  Stability At Stake: Addressing Critical Regions Facing Complex Climate, Security, And Nuclear Risks,” May 2018
• Working Group on Climate, Nuclear and Security Affairs – “Breakout Briefer: Expanding The Climate-Nuclear-Security Toolkit,” May 2018
• Working Group on Climate, Nuclear, and Security Affairs – “Report One: A Framework for Understanding and Managing the Intersection of Climate Change, Security and Nuclear Affairs,” November 2017
• Working Group on Climate, Nuclear and Security Affairs – “A Note on Climate, Nuclear, and Security Affairs,” May 2017
• Center for Climate and Security BRIEFER No 29: “The Climate-Nuclear-Security-Nexus: A Collision Course or a Road to New Opportunities?,” May 2017

Context:

Today, the international community is experiencing a number of nuclear-related trends and pressures. New nations are pursuing civilian nuclear capabilities. Some countries long holding nuclear energy are increasing their nuclear capacity, while others are witnessing the opposite trend. The threat of non-state actors seeking nuclear materials may be growing. Countries continue to debate proper approaches for keeping nuclear systems safe and secure, while innovative concepts such as nuclear fuel banks are reshaping the intellectual landscape regarding nuclear issues. At the same time, governments worldwide are having difficulty managing the effects of the rapidly changing climate, such as severe natural disasters, new disease trends, sea level rise, and exacerbated resource stress. Even without these major influencers, national security institutions are experiencing monumental stresses from technological change, continually-evolving terrorist threats, massive waves of migration, an emboldened Russia, the strength of the nonproliferation regime under question from flagrant use of chemical weapons and the emergence of a nuclear weapons ban treaty, and other pressures.

In some ways, climate, security, and nuclear trends are evolving in parallel, shaping the global landscape alongside political changes, demographic stress, globalization, and other factors. In other ways, these trends are directly influencing one another and intertwining. Innumerable examples are already clear. Bangladesh is struggling against sea level rise and changing Himalayan glacial patterns in tandem with rising terrorist threats and overpopulation, all as its government continues cooperation with Russia to build nuclear reactors. Jordan, a critical security partner of the United States, has seen protests over the country’s potential nuclear program in recent years as the government pushes forward on plans to develop a nuclear energy sector, in part to enable desalination to help address the country’s dire water shortages that are growing worse with the combined pressures of refugees and climate change. Given their humanitarian impacts and the existential risks they pose, the effects of nuclear weapons and climate change have both driven new legal challenges in targeted countries and international courts, combining to showcase a new type of lawfare that is empowering individuals and small states such as the Marshall Islands.

Climate change is making the International Atomic Energy Agency’s nuclear work in medicine, agriculture, and clean water more important than ever, just as it seems its nuclear safety, security, and nonproliferation responsibilities will continue to grow.

The Center for Climate and Security launched a program in 2016 to explore the many ways climate change, nuclear, and security affairs are combining around the world. In order to understand the diverse and complex interactions among these three issue areas, the Center assembled a multidisciplinary Working Group on Climate, Nuclear, and Security Affairs. Its members include thought leaders with wide-ranging experiences in defense, diplomacy, business, academia, journalism, and international organizations.

 

Working Group on Climate, Nuclear, and Security Affairs

In addition to the participants named above, other experts have attended workshops and otherwise contributed to the advancement of this area of work but must remain anonymous at this time.