Articles 2020

the rapid rises in global military spending threaten climate action, undermining our collective security. In a new joint paper we explore how everything from direct emissions to diverted climate finance are threatening SDG 13 on Climate action.

Militaries are huge energy users whose greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) make a significant contribution to the climate crisis. However, countries do not systematically record and report their military emissions so the real share of this source of emissions remains unclear. The Conflict and Environment Observatory (CEOBS) and Scientists for Global Responsibility estimate that everyday military activity could be responsible for around 5.5% of global emissions, meaning that if the world’s militaries were a country, they would be the fourth largest emitter in the world.6 Furthermore, as military spending increases and the rest of society decarbonises, that proportion is set to rise.

Russia’s war in Ukraine has encouraged a rapid increase in the deployment of drones that use fibre optic cables to protect them from being jammed or downed by electronic warfare: the drones trail kilometres of plastic cable across frontlines. In this post Leon Moreland explores the environmental risks posed by this new form of battlefield plastic pollution.

Le « capital naturel » est une nouvelle façon de concevoir la nature où celle-ci est considérée comme un ensemble de services rendus aux êtres humains, tout le reste étant inutile et ne méritant pas d’être préservé. Cette approche considère qu’il faut mettre un prix sur la nature pour la sauver. Elle promeut par ailleurs la création de marchés financiers où les entreprises destructrices de l’environnement peuvent s’échanger des permis de détruire.