Climate change activists have asked wealthy nations to divert 5% of their military budgets to climate finance.
According to one 2022 estimate, the world’s militaries produce at least 5.5% of greenhouse gas emissions – more than the total footprint of Japan – But no country is required to provide data on military emissions thanks to successful lobbying by the US at the Kyoto conference in 1997.
Leaders removed the exemption in 2015 but made reporting military emissions optional.
Reports show that military spending has grown by more than a quarter in the past decade, exceeding $2.2tn in 2022. During the same time period, attempts to mobilize funds for climate finance have faltered. In 2009, for instance, rich countries agreed to spend $100bn on climate finance for developing world annually by 2020, but they broke that promise, providing only $90bn for climate finance in 2021.
The call comes as global leaders at Cop28 in Dubai gather for a special-themed day on “relief, recovery, and peace” on Sunday, marking the first time climate-fueled conflict has ever been on an international climate conference agenda.
Participants are expected to discuss the need to direct aid to “highly vulnerable, fragile, and conflict-affected communities” as evidence mounts that climate disasters put regions at greater risk of war, and amid ongoing conflict in Palestine as well as Ukraine, Sudan, and other areas.
But Transnational Institute, an international research and advocacy group says that truly protecting communities from climate and conflict will require a shift in priorities.
“Money is being spent on militarization rather than on climate action,” said Nick Buxton, a researcher with the Transnational Institute, “though the climate crisis is the biggest [common] security threat that we face today.”
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The organization found that by diverting just 5% of global military budgets, the world could raise $110.4bn for climate finance – more than enough to meet a repeatedly broken annual climate finance target of $100bn.
The environmental activist and author Bill McKibben said that national – and global – security in the 21st century will depend on limiting the rise in temperature and resulting havoc more than on any other thing.
Story was adapted from the Guardian.
