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The military and the destruction of environment and climate

Since time immemorial people have known that in the wake of the armies follow death and destruction. On old Chinese adage says exactly that. 


It is very odd then, that with the massive international focus on climate that the obvious damage done on the climate by the militaries and the wars, greenhouse gases pertaining from the militaries and the wars have been kept out of the books since the first international agreement to mitigate climate change, namely the Kyoto Protocol. It was due to pressure from the US Government (Bill Clinton and Al Gore). The US did not even ratify the Kyoto Protocol, but the omission of the large climate foot print from the militaries has been kept out of the negotiations since then. At COP21 in Paris it was agreed, though, that military emissions could be reported to the UNFCCC - UN's Framework Convention on Climate Change. But optional and voluntary.  No surprise, very few countries have included their military emissions. 

Attention has been growing among peace and climate activists and also in the academia over the last 15-20 years on this issue.


The issue has been vital for the NPA since the first years' conference. Several member organizations have been working dedicated on the nexus between the military, climate and environment. See e.g. the report below from the Global Week of Action for Peace & Climate in Sweden.


The Nordic Peace Alliance encourages peace, climate and environmental groups and organizations to embrace this issue and strengthen the cooperation between these groups.


Military & climate


A group of international researchers have compiled a compendium over the research on the intersection between MILITARY - WAR and CLIMATE CHANGE


Read Confronting military greenhouse gas emissions


Global Week of Action for Peace & Climate


See the comprehensive report from Sweden on events that took place during the Global Week of Action for Peace & Climate


Living under a Black Sky


A sweeping report from PAX in The Netherlands about Conflict pollution and environmental health 

concerns in Iraq


Living under a Black Sky

Hidden carbon costs of the “everywhere war”

"The Defense Logistics Agency: the invisible hand of Imperialism.


The DLA‐E is the one‐stop shop for
fuelling purchases and contracts within the US military both domestically and internationally, and acts as the US military's
internal market for all consumables, including fuel."


Read the report by Oliver Belcher, Patrick Bigger, Ben Neimark and Cara Kennelly



The ENVIRONMENTAL
CONSEQUENCES of the war against Ukraine

"Widespread and severe damage to soils, crops, irrigation systems, buildings and equipment along front lines impacted both agriculturally dependent livelihoods and international food security. Damage to fertilizer, pesticide and other agrochemical storage facilities caused direct releases of pollutants into the environment."


Quote from the chapter on The Rural Environment.


Read the very detailed and fact-rich report by CEOBS

The reporting gap in international
climate policy


“We took special pains, working with the Defense Department and with our uniformed military, both before and in Kyoto, to fully protect the unique position of the United States as the world’s only superpower with global military responsibilities. We achieved everything they outlined as necessary to protect military operations and our national security. At Kyoto, the parties, for example, took a decision to exempt key overseas military activities from any emissions targets, including exemptions for bunker fuels used
in international aviation and maritime transport and from emissions resulting from multilateral operations“ 

US climate negotiator Stuart Eizenstat at a Senate committee hearing in 1998.


Read the report: MILITARY AND CONFLICT RELATED EMISSIONS: KYOTO TO GLASGOW
AND BEYOND