To whatever cause one points, global warming is real. But beyond concerns of environmentalism and ‘human security’, effects attendant to shifting climates will have an unmistakable and potentially severe impact on the core national security of states worldwide. Consider Bangladesh, where even a two degree Celsius shift in temperature is estimated to cause 15% of the densely populated Sundarban region to be permanently submerged under water, directly endangering the lives of some 5.5 million people. One must not assume these effects will be contained by lines on a map. Indeed, en masse migration, market fluctuations, and intensification of nascent conflict almost certainly will draw otherwise unaffected parties into the mix. These effects make climate change more than a political football between industrialists and environmentalists; they make climate change a central factor in the core security of the state. Analysts of the Transnational Crisis Project will seek to move beyond the present political deadlock to identify likely effects, their regional and security implications, and devise models and strategies for security institutions to address them.