NATO’s current security doctrine needs to change. It needs to enhance its political will and institutional capacity to manage climate change threats, both within the alliance itself and within the area most vulnerable to its southern flank: the Middle East. NATO will need to evolve into a CATO, a “Climate Alliance Treaty Organization,” that deals with the security implications of potential tipping points and develops policies in response.

As US-Russia tensions in space have increased over the last several years, cooperation in space nuclear research presents itself as one opportunity to both ease bilateral relations and develop the technologies needed for the next generation of crewed space missions.