How organized credibility enables climate action: the U.S. climate security coalition as a credibility machine

Figures & data

Figure 1. The climate security coalition operates as a credibility machine, involving mechanisms similar to those in organized denial. Defense personnel, think tanks, foundations and media promote the agenda and put it to work.

Figure 2. The climate security coalition mobilizes relationships, ideas and policies across levels of government. Multiple, overlapping instances of “boomerang federalism” achieve a form of “embedded upscaling” which results in multilevel coordination (Fisher, 2013; Fuhr et al., 2018).

Fisher, D. R. (2013). Understanding the relationship between subnational and national climate change politics in the United States: Toward a theory of boomerang federalism. Environment and Planning C: Government and Policy, 31(5), 769–784. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1068/c11186

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Fuhr, H., Hickmann, T., & Kern, K. (2018). The role of cities in multi-level climate governance: Local climate policies and the 1.5°C target. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, 30, 1–6. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cosust.2017.10.006

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