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The Jackson Hole Global Forum 2021

Climate Change and National Security

January 2021

Jackson Hole

The Jackson Hole Global Forum: Climate and National Security, hosted by the Jackson Hole Center for Global Affairs in partnership with the Center for Climate and Security will bring U.S. and global military leaders, security professionals, business executives, policy leaders and citizens together to advance policy and business steps that respond to the security implications of a changing climate.

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Consistent with advice of recent Defense Secretary James Mattis, who argued for a “whole-of-government response” to climate change, the Forum will assess and identify ways to prepare for climate change risks to national and global security; examine forward-looking climate action and steps to support partner nation resilience to climate change risks, and examine the impacts of climate change on communities and measures to strengthen resilience.

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The Forum will strengthen public awareness and the will to respond.

 
 
 
 

  • First Person to Ski Seven Summits

  • First Woman to Ski Everest

  • 2015 National Geographic Adventurer of the Year

  • Instagram

  • Managing Director, Lowercarbon Capital

  • Venture Capitalist

  • Shark Tank judge

  • Instagram
DAY 1: RISKS
Managing & preparing for the unavoidable

Opening Welcome Letter​ from Wyoming Senator John Barrasso, Chairman, U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works

9 - 9:05 am

Jackson Hole Global Forum Welcome

  • Pete Muldoon, Mayor of Jackson Hole

9:05- 9:15 am

Keynote - "View from the Edge: A Ski Mountaineer's Perspective on Climate Change"

  • Kit DesLauriers, Ski Mountaineer

9:15 - 9:45 am

What's the Worst that Could Happen? Avoiding the Unmanageable

Moderator - Kate Guy, Sr. Research Fellow, Center for Climate and Security

  • Christine Parthemore, CEO, Council on Strategic Risks 

  • Rear Admiral Len Hering Sr., USN (Ret); Center for Climate and Security Advisory Board Member

  • Rear Admiral, David Titley, USN (Ret.); Center for Climate and Security Advisory Board Member

9:45 - 10:45 am 

A Climate Security World Tour

Moderator - Sweta Chakraborty, Risk and Behavioral Scientist, U.S. Representative for “We Don’t Have Time”

  • Christine Mahoney, Director of Social Entrepreneurship, University of Virginia

  • Cheryl Durrant, Fmr. Director of Preparedness and Mobilisation, Australian Department of Defense

  • Hon. Sherri Goodman, Fmr. Deputy Undersecretary of Defense; Secretary-General of the International Military Council on Climate and Security; Center for Climate and Security Advisory Board Member 

11 am - 12 pm 

Lunch Address - "Disruption: Defining Radical in the Age of Humans"

  • Rob Davies, Utah State University 

12 - 1 pm 

Climate Change and Economic Impacts

Moderator - Erika Karp, CEO, Cornerstone Capital 

  • Alex Friedman, former CEO, GAM Investments

  • John Kluge, Jr, Managing Director, Refugee Investment Network

  • Rob Godby, Acting Associate Dean, Haub School of Environment and Natural Resources, University of Wyoming; JHCGA Advisory Board Member

1 - 2 pm 

Military and Critical Infrastructure Vulnerability in the U.S.

Moderator - Nathan Wendt, Vice President, Jackson Hole Center for Global Affairs

  • Hon. John Conger, Director, Center for Climate and Security; Center for Climate and Security Advisory Board Member

  • Lt. Gen. John Castellaw, USMC (Ret.); Center for Climate and Security Advisory Board Member

  • Rear Admiral Ann Phillips, USN (Ret.); Special Assistant to the Virginia Governor for Coastal Adaptation and Protection; Center for Climate and Security Advisory Board Member

2:15 - 3:15 pm 

Risks, Impacts and Future Scenarios in Wyoming and the West

Moderator - David Wendt, President, Jackson Hole Center for Global Affairs 

  • Tobin Kelley, Fire and Timber Staff Officer, Bridger-Teton National Forest

  • Lt. Gen. Arlen Jameson, USAF (Ret.); Center for Climate and Security Advisory Board Member; JHCGA Advisory Board Member 

  • Mark Newcomb, Teton County Commissioner: JHCGA Board Member

3:30 - 4:30 pm

Reception

4:30 - 6 pm 

Private Dinner Gatherings

6:30 - 8 pm 

dAY 2: Opportunities
A Climate Security Plan for America

Morning Coffee Conversation

  • Chris Sacca, Managing Director, Lowercarbon Capital; Shark Tank judge

9 - 9:30 am

A Climate Security Plan for America

Moderator - Hon. John Conger, Director, Center for Climate and Security; Center for Climate and Security Advisory Board Member

  • Dr. Marcus King, Director, Master of Arts in International Affairs Program, George Washington University; Center for Climate and Security Advisory Board Member

  • Vice Admiral Dennis McGinn, USN (Ret.); Center for Climate and Security Advisory Board Member

  • Hon. Sherri Goodman, Fmr. Deputy Undersecretary of Defense, Secretary-General of the International Military Council on Climate and Security; Center for Climate and Security Advisory Board Member

9:30 - 10:30 am 

Global Preparedness and Collaboration

Moderator - Christine Parthemore, CEO, Council on Strategic Risks 

  • (Netherlands) Vice Admiral Ben Bekkering (Ret.), Netherlands Royal Navy

  • (France) Bastien Alex, Research Fellow, The French Institute for International and Strategic Affairs

  • (New Zealand) Jane Neilson, Senior Analyst, Climate Change and Security, Policy Branch, New Zealand Ministry of Defence

1 0:45 - 11:45 am 

Lunch Address - “Opportunities for Wyoming in a Carbon-Constrained World”

  • Kipp Coddington, Director, Center for Energy Regulation and Policy, University of Wyoming

11:45 - 12:45 pm 

Investing in Community Resilience

Moderator - Phil Cameron, Executive Director, Energy Conservation Works 

  • David Dodson, Lecturer in Management, Stanford University; 2018 U.S. Wyoming Senate candidate; JHCGA Distinguished Fellow

  • Jiang Lin, Director, Berkeley-Tsinghua Joint Research Center on Energy and Climate Change; JHCGA Advisory Board Member

  • Lisa McGee, Executive Director, Wyoming Outdoor Council

 12:45 - 1:45 pm

Closing Conversation - Takeaways and Call to Action

  • Pete Muldoon, Mayor of Jackson Hole

  • Vinny Smith, Founder, Toba Capital

 1:45 - 2:15 pm

 

LEADING 

SPONSORS

CO 

SPONSORS

 

LEADERSHIP CIRCLE MEMBERS

Shelby Davis

Ross and Christine Hartley

Goldman Sonnenfeldt Foundation

Jay Varley

John and Ann Willott

The Wort Hotel

JH GLOBAL FORUM PARTNER

Center for Climate and Security

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The Center for Climate and Security, a non-partisan institute of the Council on Strategic Risks, has a team and distinguished Advisory Board of security and military experts. CCS envisions a climate-resilient world which recognizes that climate change threats to security are already significant and unprecedented, and acts to address those threats in a manner that is commensurate to their scale, consequence and probability.

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In light of an increase in threats to security exacerbated by the effects of a changing climate, CCS develops policies that will adequately manage unavoidable effects on security and help to avoid effects on security that would be unmanageable or unpredictable. This includes developing robust policies that seek to reduce the scope and scale of climate change in order to avoid unmanageable or unpredictable threats.  CCS also develops robust adaptation policies that seek to manage the unavoidable, or “locked in” threats to security resulting from a changing climate.

 

CCS has focused its efforts on translating the U.S. national security consensus on climate change it built in the years leading up to 2017 – as represented in our Climate Security Consensus Project, the CSAG Briefing Book for a New Administration and “Responsibility to Prepare” framework, - into a broader political base of support for climate and security issues.