President Joe Biden told American troops Wednesday in the United Kingdom that the greatest threat facing the United States today is climate change.
“When I first was elected vice president with President Obama, military sat us down to let us know what the greatest threats facing America were — greatest physical threats. This is not a joke,” Biden told the soldiers in Bury Saint Edmunds, United Kingdom. “You know what the Joint Chiefs told us the greatest threat facing America was? Global warming.”
Biden is visiting the U.K. on his first foreign trip to meet with allies from around the globe and discuss areas of potential cooperation. The coming days will see the president meet with allied leaders from Europe and Asia, including Queen Elizabeth II, and hold a summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin. (RELATED: ‘Very Real Threat To Our National Security’: Kamala Harris Fearmongers On Climate Change In Naval Academy Speech)
“Because there will be significant population movements, fights over land, millions of people leaving places because they’re literally sinking below the sea in Indonesia. Because of the fights over what is arable land anymore,” Biden continued in his remarks to the troops. “With the G7, we plan to launch an ambitious effort to support resilience and development around the world, by investing in high-quality, high-standard, physical, digital and health infrastructures.”
Biden has made fighting climate change a key part of his foreign policy agenda since his first day in the Oval Office. One of his first acts as president was to rejoin the Paris Climate Accords, and the Pentagon’s proposed budget for fiscal year 2022 includes millions of dollars set aside for combatting the effects of global warming around the world.