Earlier this month, NATO released the latest edition of its “Climate Change and Security Impact Assessment.” It stands to reason that the 75-year-old security alliance, composed of 32 member countries, would care about the climate crisis. But NATO’s detailed studies of how rising temperatures are impacting its operations—from unbearably hot training grounds to storm-vulnerable bases and increasing deployments for disaster response—shouldn’t confuse anyone into thinking the organization is actually serious about fighting climate change.

As researchers at the Transnational Institute, or TNI, have found, NATO’s $1.34 trillion in overall military spending last year produced an estimated 233 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent—more than the annual greenhouse gas emissions of Colombia or Qatar, both major fossil fuel–producing countries. Boosted spending in 2023 meant that the body’s greenhouse emissions increased by 15 percent.

NATO’s member countries—including the U.S. and European countries—have routinely failed to deliver adequate climate finance to poorer nations in the global south. The alliance,........

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