Pete Buttigieg Vows Pentagon ‘Senior Climate Security’ Position

Mayor Pete Buttigieg released his plan to combat climate change on Wednesday, warning of the changes needed at the Department of Defense to combat what he described as a national security threat.

“Climate security must be deeply integrated into all aspects of national security planning,” he wrote in his description of his plan.

The South Bend mayor proposed creating a “senior climate security role” at the Pentagon who could help prepare the United States for “climate security risks.”

The senior Climate Change authority at the Pentagon would build a “Climate Watch Floor” to monitor global climate change and work with the Secretary of Defense to respond to global hot spots.

Buttigieg released his plan ahead of a CNN town hall on Climate Change on Wednesday night.

He also promised to use executive action to shift funding to prepare military bases for the threat of climate change.

“Increasingly extreme weather and sea level rise is already threatening our military’s ability to fight and win our nation’s wars and defend the homeland, with two-thirds of military installations already at increased risk from climate disruption,” he wrote.

He promised to impose strict regulations on the military, directing all new Department of Defense facilities and non-combat vehicles be zero-emissions by 2025 and spend funds to “retrofit existing facilities.”

Buttigieg’s dramatic plan also proposes hundreds of billions of dollars in spending to double the amount of clean energy generated in the United States by 2025, require zero emissions for all new passenger vehicles by 2035 and ensure net-zero emissions by industry vehicles by 2040. By 2050, Buttigieg says his plan would force the industry to achieve net-zero emissions.