NGO calls for conflict-related carbon emissions in Europe to be taken into account: Environment: Nature World News

Increasing militarization and defense spending are undermining efforts to combat climate change, NGOs claimed at a forum in Brussels.

Military carbon footprint

The European Network against Arms Trade (ENAAT) and the Transnational Institute (TNI) organized the event in response to figures from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) indicating a sharp increase in military spending and the impact of European military procurement on climate change.

Nick Buxton, TNI’s information center coordinator, cited 2022 forecasts from experts who found that the total military carbon footprint is responsible for about 5.5% of global emissions.

“Military spending is going on tanks and F-35 jets, while Belgium and Germany are lining up to buy them… Every time we see this increase in numbers there is a huge increase in CO2 emissions” , said Buxton.

Buxton said the EU is increasing carbon emissions through militarization, citing EU naval activities in the Red Sea and border barriers to prevent migration.

He added that the European public should be aware of how politics militarizes every situation rather than addressing it.

The military is generally exempt from publicly reporting greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. There is currently no consolidated public reporting on greenhouse gas emissions for the European Union’s national military.

Last year, environmental groups and scientists pressured the United Nations to require foreign militaries to report all their gas emissions and abolish a long-standing exemption that has allowed some of their climate pollution to go unreported.

Also read: Environmental groups are urging the United Nations to make global military gas emissions public

Biggest enemy of climate action

Irish MP Clare Daly said militarization is the biggest enemy of climate action.

“Rather than trying to build peace and strengthen goodwill, the EU is now diverting funds intended for climate action and channeling them into armaments and militarization, a choice that only increases tensions and makes war more likely,” Daly said .

According to a recent study, military spending in Central and Western Europe is already higher than during the last year of the Cold War.

Laëtitia Sédou, project officer at ENAAT, highlighted that EU military expenditure has increased from €3.32 billion in 2021 to €7.67 billion in 2023.

She described a “paradigm shift” that took place in 2017, when the EU budget began financing the arms industry through the European Defense Fund, Action in Support of Ammunition Production (ASAP), European Defense Industry Reinforcement through Common Procurement Act (EDIRPA), or the European Defense Industry Program (EDIP).

All but three European NATO members – Greece, Italy and Romania – have increased military spending in 2023.

Irish lawmakers regretted that military emissions were not included in the global stocktake at COP28 in Dubai, citing “many gaps” in reporting on such emissions.

They underlined that reliable data on military emissions is more important than ever at a time when military spending in Europe, and indeed globally, is increasing at an alarming rate.

Ionela Maria Ciolan, security and defense research officer at the Wilfried Martens Center for European Studies, said concerns about climate change should not deter investments in the defense industry or weapons production.

Ciolan urged the EU to invest more in greening its military and minimizing their carbon footprint by researching and developing low-carbon military technology and fuels.

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