Defense contractor Raytheon has found a way to benefit from climate change. The company believes that future “security concerns” related to global warming could present business opportunities, and they’re not alone. Much of corporate America doesn’t care about solving the problem of climate change. Rather, corporations are concerned with the profit they can make from it.
Last year, Raytheon said that “expanded business opportunities are likely to arise as consumer behaviour and needs change in response to climate change,” according to the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP).
While the defense contractor has received a “Climate Leadership Award” from the EPA for reducing its greenhouse gas emissions, and is working on renewable energy technologies, it is also aware of potential climate-related opportunities for profit.
Climate change has and is expected to continue to cause severe weather and more extreme storms, which can lead to issues like flooding, drought, and human displacement along with water crises, food shortages, infrastructure damage, and more. Displacement can, among other issues, lead to religious conflict and political violence.
For years, experts at the Pentagon and other intelligence agencies have been considering the national security implications of climate change. In a CDP document, Raytheon recognizes the “destabilizing effects” resulting from climate change, both nationally and internationally. For a company like Raytheon, those devastating effects could result in extensive business opportunities.
Raytheon has noted its renewable energy technologies, weather-prediction products, and emergency response equipment. The company also expects to see “demand for its military products and services as security concerns may arise as results of drought, floods, and storm events occur as a result of climate change,” Mother Jones reports.
As author Alexander Zaitchik explains, the business world is now focused on figuring out how it can “create and corner new markets” as society as a whole begins to adapt to the effects of climate change.
Alisha Mims is a writer and researcher with Ring of Fire.
