DASD Caroline Baxter on Integrating Climate Change into Professional Military Education

DASD Caroline Baxter describes the U.S. Department of Defense's (DoD) efforts to integrate climate literacy into professional military education (PME). She argues that climate change acts as a "threat multiplier" affecting installations, mission demand, and budgets. The DoD's approach focuses on making climate information mission-relevant, integrating it into existing curricula to avoid task saturation, and emphasizing readiness and lethality over political terminology. Key initiatives include the Climate Literacy Sub-Working Group, a new outcomes-based PME instruction, and a dedicated online portal for authoritative climate information.

• Climate change is characterized as a "threat multiplier to national security" that impacts all DoD personnel, sites, and budgets, potentially eroding the ability to project power and degrading operational advantages.
• The DoD has faced significant financial losses due to extreme weather, with more than 10 bases impacted since 2017 resulting in over $13 billion in damages, including $5 billion for Tyndall Air Force Base after Hurricane Michael in 2018, $3 billion for Camp Lejeune after Hurricane Florence in 2018, and $1 billion for Offutt Air Force Base after 2019 flooding.
• Climate-driven emergencies have significantly increased the operational burden on the U.S. National Guard; personnel days spent on wildland firefighting rose from 14,000 in 2016 to 176,000 in 2021.
• The DoD's climate literacy strategy employs three pillars—education, training, and engagement—and is managed by a Climate Literacy Sub-Working Group consisting of over 80 members from 15 DoD Components.
• To overcome political polarization and maintain focus on mission execution, the DoD emphasizes readiness, lethality, and operational planning in the context of a changing environment rather than using the specific term "climate change."
• The DoD has transitioned PME from an input-driven approach to an outcomes-based approach, focusing on specific knowledge, skills, and abilities that graduates must possess to be successful in their assignments.
• Military education institutions are encouraged to use a systems-based methodology to teach climate security, enabling planners to trace pathways from a climate hazard (such as drought in the Horn of Africa) to secondary impacts and eventual security implications.

APA

Baxter, C. (2024). DASD Caroline Baxter on Integrating Climate Change into Professional Military Education. The Council on Strategic Risks. https://councilonstrategicrisks.org/2024/03/07/dasd-caroline-baxter-on-integrating-climate-change-into-professional-military-education/

Chicago

Baxter, Caroline. DASD Caroline Baxter on Integrating Climate Change into Professional Military Education. The Council on Strategic Risks, 2024. https://councilonstrategicrisks.org/2024/03/07/dasd-caroline-baxter-on-integrating-climate-change-into-professional-military-education/.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |last1=Baxter |first1=Caroline |title=DASD Caroline Baxter on Integrating Climate Change into Professional Military Education |publisher=The Council on Strategic Risks |date=7 March 2024 |url=https://councilonstrategicrisks.org/2024/03/07/dasd-caroline-baxter-on-integrating-climate-change-into-professional-military-education/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{baxter2024dasd, author = {Baxter, Caroline}, title = {{DASD Caroline Baxter on Integrating Climate Change into Professional Military Education}}, publisher = {The Council on Strategic Risks}, year = {2024}, month = mar, url = {https://councilonstrategicrisks.org/2024/03/07/dasd-caroline-baxter-on-integrating-climate-change-into-professional-military-education/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }