Security in a Changing Climate:
Defence Spending and Strategy
for a Warming World

The 2026 CSAC Annual Conference was held in Montreal on 17–18 June. Security in a Changing Climate: Defence Spending and Strategy for a Warming World analysed and debated the links between climate change and the radical transformation of international relations, the implications of increased defence spending for the climate security agenda and, more specifically, the consequences for Canadian and allied security and defence policy. Two sets of questions were addressed.

One, discussions about the consequences of climate change for security and defence have so far emphasised how the climate crisis multiplies security threats or how it might lead to instability and war. In military and defence contexts, this has led to little to no systemic analysis of how climate change transforms the geopolitical and strategic landscapes, affects defence organisations, or impacts the future of war. Where are the evaluations of climate risks, vulnerabilities, and opportunities for defence and military organisations? What structural effects can climate change have on these organisations? What are the implications for defence planning, strategic foresight, and climate security futures?

Two, the foundations of international relations are shifting. Prime Minister Mark Carney (Davos, January 2026) calls on governments to navigate the “rupture” of the international rules-based order in order to adopt a “values-based pragmatism.” This rupture creates the space to examine issues that have received too little attention. In the name of realism, the climate change and the climate security agendas have been marginalised and eclipsed, while national sovereignty, energy security, economic growth, and risk management have dominated discussion of climate change. In the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) context, Canada and other “middle powers” have increased their defence budgets, with the Carney government promising a doubling in defence spending by 2030. Such a military buildup present multiple dilemmas, not the least by locking-in future carbon emissions that will exacerbate climatic change and climate security risks and vulnerabilities. What is, then, the future of climate security and defence? What are or should be the possibilities and opportunities and the trade-offs for defence and military organisations? How can “values-based pragmatism” inform defence and military organisations in coming years? Where should the money go?

The conference program was built to inform policy and enrich the public debate, but also to contribute to the scholarship on climate security and defence. Climate Security Studies (CSS) have largely focused on the direct impacts of climate change on security. Our interest is in how climate change affects, shapes, and alters the sociotechnical capacities, possibilities, and imaginaries of defence organisations, and the implications for military functions and missions. As such, our conference was primarily an investigation into how defence and military organisations operate, plan to operate, or should operate in a world being transformed environmentally and politically.

June 17-18, 2026

Security in a Changing Climate: Defence Spending and Strategy for a Warming World

Opening Remarks by:

- - - Prof. Bruno Charbonneau, Royal Military College Saint-Jean
    - Prof. Gregory Hooks, McMaster University
    - Col. François Tinjod, NATO Climate Change and Security Center of Excellence

Keynote Speaker – Prof. Will Greaves, Member of Parliament (Victoria, British Columbia)

Balado Québec
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Video

Roundtable on Canada and the State of (a Warming) World

With:

- - - Will Greaves, Member of Parliament
    - Neta Crawford, University of St Andrews
    - Jeff Collins, Director, Palmer Canadian Leadership Institute
    - Rachel Samson, Vice-President research, Institute for Research on Public Policy
    - Gervais Carpentier, General (ret.), Canadian Armed Forces

Chair: Bruno Charbonneau

Panel 1 – Climate Security in the Canadian Arctic

With:

- - - •Alex Crawford, Centre for Earth Observation Science, University of Manitoba
    - Miriam Hird-Younger, Centre for Security Science, Defence Research and Development Canada (DRDC)
    - Bradley Wallace, Program Manager “Military Implications of Climate change”, Defence Research and Development Canada (DRDC)
    - Jeff Collins, Director, Palmer Canadian Leadership Institute
    - Ariane Théroux-Samuel, Assistant Director, Arctic Policy, Assistant Deputy Minister (Policy), Department of National Defence

Chair: Burgess Langshaw-Power

Panel 2 – National Resilience and Civilian Preparedness

With:

- - - Philippe Gachon, Centre pour l'Étude et la Simulation du Climat à l'Échelle Régionale, UQAM
    - Jose DiBella, Climate Institute, University of Waterloo
    - Michael Hosken, Centre for Security Science, Defence Research and Development Canada (DRDC)
    - Gervais Carpentier, General (ret.) Canadian Armed Forces
    - Karl Torring, Swedish Civil Defence and Resilience Agency

Chair: Sara Rose-Carswell

Panel 3 – Military spending and carbon emissions

With:

- - - Gregory Hooks, Department of Sociology, McMaster University
    - Lennard de Klerk, Initiative on GHG accounting of war
    - Andrew Jorgenson, Department of Sociology, University of British Columbia
    - Ellie Kinney, The Conflict and Environment Observatory

Chair: Duncan Depledge

Keynote Speaker – Neta Crawford, School of International Relations, University of St Andrews

Panel 4 – Defence and the energy transition

With:

- - - Duncan Depledge, University of Loughborough
    - Besmir Shurdha, Capt., Canadian Armed Forces
    - Victor Jacquet, Volt-Age, Concordia University
    - Ross Franklin, Sustainability, Materiel Group, Department of National Defence

Chair: Jordan Koop

Panel 5 – Enabling defence in the era of climate security & Closing remarks

With:

- - - Rachel Samson, Vice-President research, Institute for Research on Public Policy
    - Sara Rose-Carswell, Deputy Director, Climate Change and Security, Global Affairs Canada
    - Brigadier-General Marc Parent, Commander, Joint Task Force (North)
    - Pauline Baudu, CDA Institute
    - Bruno Charbonneau, Royal Military College Saint-Jean