No free pass for military emissions anymore!

Military is a climate killer!

IPB calls for countries to be obliged to cut their military emissions!

There are few activities on earth as environmentally catastrophic as waging war. One of the biggest culprits of burning oil is the military and, whenever and wherever there is a conflict or a major military exercise, the amount of oil burned increases also releasing an increased burden of smoke. War and militarism, and their associated ‘carbon boot-prints’, are severely accelerating climate change.

Regardless of what was learned about climate change through scientific research reports, little was done to include the contribution of the military to climate change or to reduce it. If we are serious on combating climate change, we need to make sure to count all carbon emissions, without having exemptions based on ‘political inconvenience’.

The military’s significant contribution to climate change has received little attention. According to a recent report from Brown University, the US military is one of the largest polluters in history, consuming more liquid fuels and emitting more climate-changing gases than many industrialized nations like Sweden or Switzerland. 

This “dirty game” of not including military emissions is over!

IPB stresses the COP25 to include the military in its climate action work and to adopt provisions covering military compliance. The COP25 must include military emissions in their calculations and the CO2 emissions laundering has to stop. It should also include a blueprint to reduce military emissions.

IPB urges the State Parties to the Paris Agreement to adjust its provision to military emissions, not leaving decisions up to nation states as to which national sectors should make emissions cuts.

IPB calls for an inclusion of military greenhouse gas emission into climate change regulations. Moreover, countries need to be obliged, without exemption, to cut military emissions and transparently report them.

IPB calls for more academic studies (in line with the study from Brown University report) and an IPCC or equal special report. The report needs to be a common project of academics and the civil society.

The press release is available in English, German and French on our website

The US military is not only the most funded army in the world, it is also “one of the largest polluters in history, consuming more liquid fuels and emitting more climate-changing gases than most medium-sized countries”. The Department of Defence’s daily consumption alone is greater than the total national consumption of countries like Sweden, Switzerland or Chile. And the US has been continuously at war, or engaged in military actions, since late 2001.

War and militarism, and their associated ‘carbon boot-prints’, are severely accelerating climate change. However, the military’s significant contribution to climate change has still received little attention. It is not only the US army that has a severe impact on climate change, Europe’s military is also running its bases and its various operations and contributing to the rise in carbon emissions. However, obtaining accurate data about any form of military energy consumption is very difficult.

The entire IPB Information Paper is available on our website

Hundreds of peace activists from across Europe gathered in central London on 30^th November to challenge the NATO war machine and discuss alternatives to current policies which are taking the world closer to war. ‘The New World Disorder’ was the counter-summit organised by the No to War - No to NATO network, the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and the Stop the War Coalition. In a packed hall draped with banners from our movement, participants welcomed the veteran writer and broadcaster Tariq Ali, well-known for his pivotal role in the campaign against the Vietnam War. He was joined in the opening plenary by Ludo de Brabander from Vrede vzw in Belgium, Lindsey German from the Stop the War Coalition, UK, and Kristine Karch from the No to War – No to NATO network in Germany. Arielle Denis, the French IPB and anti-nuclear activist, well-known to many in the audience, was in the chair for the session.

Workshops during the day included NATO and the New Cold War; NATO and Nuclear Weapons; Oil, War and the Middle East; NATO goes Global; 21^st Century War; emerging technology and emerging strategies; Racism, Islamophobia and the Far Right; Conflicts, Climate Change and Militarisation; and EU-Militarisation and PESCO.

Read the full report here

Dr. Daniel Jakopovich's book Revolutionary Peacemaking: Writings for a Culture of Peace and Nonviolence (Democratic Thought, pp. 527) has recently been published. This book is a collection of interdisciplinary political and philosophical writings which explore some of the key issues of peace research, including the character and roots of various major forms of structural and cultural violence in contemporary capitalist society, impediments to the development of humane democratic institutions and relationships, interconnections between the oppression of humans and violence towards animals, and political strategies for deep, transformative peacemaking change.

Helping to formulate the philosophical and strategic foundations of revolutionary peacemaking, these writings constitute a unified endeavour to advance the creation of a democratic, humane and peaceful society which would foster compassion and nonviolence towards all sentient beings.

Daniel Jakopovich is a sociologist, philosopher, poet, an animal liberationist, a peace movement intellectual and organiser. He obtained a PhD in Sociology at the University of Cambridge, where he also taught at the Department of Sociology. Previously a Council member of the IPB, he is the Peace and Disarmament Programme Manager at Quakers in Britain.

The book can be ordered here

IPB representatives – and especially youth – are invited to two exciting events in Basel.

On the afternoon of January 9, 2020, Basel Peace Office will host Climate, peace and security: from youth voices to policy action, a special meeting of legislators (mayors and parliamentarians) with youth leaders from the climate, peace and disarmament movements in Europe. Then on January 10 will be the annual Basel Peace Forum which this year is focusing on Cities in peace and conflict. Basel Peace Office will run an interactive pavilion at the Forum on youth voices for climate action and nuclear disarmament.

The events will include granting of the inaugural Basel PACEY (Peace and Climate action of European Youth) Award. This is a €5000 award to support an outstanding or innovative European youth project or proposal on action for the climate and peace. Nominations and submissions for the award will be received until December 30, 2019.

For further information and to register for the events, please contact info@baselpeaceoffice.org .