Climate change is a major threat to stability, spy agencies say Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios Climate change will lead to a less secure, more crisis-prone world that will strain global institutions, according to a major national security assessment released Thursday. Driving the news: The “Global Trends Report,” produced every four years by the National Intelligence Council, spotlights climate change among the main structural forces shaping the next two decades. The big picture: Global warming, along with disease outbreaks, financial crises and other forces, will test the “resilience and adaptability” of the international system. There are reasons to believe that many systems large and small may fail under the increased stress.