Climate change, however, is as much an opportunity for cooperation and innovation as it is for increased conflict. There are many opportunities to mitigate climate change and strengthen our national security at the same time. For example, the Department of Defense has enacted a number of initiatives aimed at increasing energy efficiency, deploying more sources of renewable energy and assuming a leadership role in clean energy technology innovation. A recent Pew report, “Power Surge,” shows how the military is leveraging the private sector’s resources to deploy clean energy and efficiency technologies at military bases to improve energy security and save money. The U.S. military is estimated to have 384 megawatts of renewable energy on its bases, and will reach 2.1 gigawatts in the next few years. Overall, this acceleration of clean energy will put DOD on track to meet its goal of deploying 3 gigawatts of renewable power by 2025, enough to power 750,000 homes.

We can and should apply the same can-do effort to our civilian energy systems.