THE AREAS OF responsibility of the Department of State are the United States' foreign policy. Also, how foreign policy may impact U.S. security. Therefore, its interests in global warming and climate change are only to the degree that these phenomena may affect international policy or national security.

According to a June 2007 Report to Congress, called The Senator Paul Simon Water for the Poor Act 2005 (P. L. 109–121), “Climate variability is a measure of the degree to which rainfall and temperature vary across seasonal, annual, interannual and even interdecadal time periods compared with a long-term regional climate mean. Climate change refers to long-term, sustained changes in the climate mean itself.” This document states that United States' interests in climate change is strategic because climate change ...