Climate security reversed: the implications of alternative security policies for global warming

Policymakers and scholars have in recent years paid increasing attention to the climate–security nexus. However, discussions have been overwhelmingly focused on the security implications of climate change, neglecting the question of the climate implications of alternative approaches to security. On closer inspection, security policies can impact global warming in at least four ways. First, security apparatuses produce direct greenhouse gas emissions. Second, security policies can condition domestic decarbonisation efforts by competing, to a greater or lesser extent, with green transition efforts for public investment. Some policies will also be more likely than others to foster climate-friendly technological spill-overs. Third, security policies can affect spending priorities in other states, thus shaping decarbonisation efforts overseas. Finally, security competition can influence the wider climate for environmental cooperation. Accordingly, when assessing alternative security policies, observers should factor in known climate costs as well as the potential for creating negative externalities vis-à-vis decarbonisation efforts.