This RAND report assesses how energy and water technologies can sustain rapid, agile U.S. Air Force operations in contested environments. The analysis finds that near-term operational resilience is achievable through advancements in existing systems, such as improved batteries, vehicle-to-grid integration, and atmospheric water harvesting. While transformational solutions like fusion power or microreactors are progressing, they remain early stage and face significant regulatory challenges. Strategically, the findings imply a dual focus: immediate investment in maturing current technologies for deployability, alongside sustained R&D into advanced systems to ensure long-term military energy and resource independence.
Environment and Society Centre
English Summary
Chatham House’s Environment and Society Centre argues that environmental challenges are systemic drivers of both global geopolitics and local societal risk, requiring integrated policy responses. Its reasoning is based on independent, multidisciplinary research that links climate change and resource depletion to security, economic, and community resilience outcomes, while convening cross-sector expertise to test policy-relevant ideas. The centre prioritizes three action areas: climate and energy transition, sustainable food/land/resource systems, and financing accelerated sustainability transitions. Through its Sustainability Accelerator, it also promotes experimental, innovation-oriented policymaking to move beyond incremental change. For policymakers and strategists, the implication is to adopt cross-sector, evidence-based, and finance-backed transition strategies that pair mitigation with adaptation and resilience-building.
中文摘要
英國皇家國際事務研究所（Chatham House）環境與社會中心主張，環境挑戰是驅動全球地緣政治與在地社會風險的系統性因素，因而需要整合式政策回應。其論證建立在獨立且跨學科的研究基礎上，將氣候變遷與資源耗竭連結至安全、經濟與社區韌性等結果，並透過召集跨部門專業共同檢驗具政策相關性的構想。該中心優先推動三大行動領域：氣候與能源轉型、永續的糧食／土地／資源系統，以及為加速永續轉型提供融資。透過其「永續加速器」（Sustainability Accelerator），中心亦倡議以實驗性、創新導向的政策制定方式，突破漸進式變革。對政策制定者與策略規劃者而言，其意涵在於採取跨部門、以證據為基礎、並有金融支持的轉型策略，將減緩措施與調適及韌性建構相結合。
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