National security threat: US intelligence agencies analyze climate change - and give dire prognoses

A report by the US secret services on the consequences of climate change makes people sit up and take notice.

Joe Biden is also concerned and warns with drastic words.

Washington / Munich - Global warming, rising sea levels, weather catastrophes: Climate change has not only been omnipresent worldwide since yesterday.

It was not for nothing that the topic was one of the determining factors in Germany's election campaign.

Shortly before the World Climate Conference at the end of October, US President Joe Biden found drastic words to warn of the consequences.

"Climate change is the existential threat to humanity," he said on Thursday evening at an event on CNN.

At the same time, gloomy forecasts by the US secret service caused a sensation.

US Intelligence Services Special Report: National Security Threat

For the first time, US intelligence agencies have created a special report on the effects of climate change. Global warming was classified as a threat to national security. "In our estimation, climate change will increasingly exacerbate the risks to US national security interests," it says. Intelligence coordinator Avril Haines presented the report on Thursday. Not only are the effects of global warming itself increasing, according to the expertise, but also "geopolitical tensions over how to respond to the challenge".

Under the point of "geopolitical tensions", the 18 US secret services cite, among other things, a dispute over the question of which country should reduce its greenhouse gas emissions and to what extent and pay for the financing of climate protection measures.

"In addition, countries will compete over the control of resources and dominant new technologies necessary for a transition to clean energy," it said.

Particular reference is made to China.

"Growing risk of conflict": US special report highlights the urgency of the climate situation

Another point relates to “cross-border geopolitical trouble spots”. Here the secret services cite a "growing risk of conflicts over water and migration" as a result of global warming. It also warns of conflicts over the Arctic. Here, a decline in the ice layer is likely to intensify the competition for raw materials.

Finally, as a third point, the report refers to the threat of "instability" within states as a result of, among other things, food and energy shortages.

Developing countries are likely to be primarily affected by this.

In their analysis, the secret services warn that the goal anchored in the Paris climate protection agreement of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees in the long term will "most likely" be missed.

For this reason, the effects of climate change are likely to increase.

World Climate Conference: US President Biden wants to campaign for progress

The White House said government departments and agencies responsible for US security are planning the effects of climate change.

This affects, among other things, the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Homeland Security, which is responsible for border security.

Biden has made the fight against global warming one of the main concerns of his policy.

However, his ambitious climate protection agenda is met with opposition in Congress.

Under Biden, the US returned to the Paris Agreement on Climate Change.

Predecessor Donald Trump had led the country out of the agreement.

On Thursday, Biden said he was confident that Congress would soon find a compromise on his proposed budget and infrastructure package.

First, he wanted to campaign for progress at the World Climate Conference in Glasgow.

A report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change recently showed a similarly gloomy forecast.