As we head towards COP29, the issues of climate finance and a fossil fuel phase-out towards a just energy transition are ever more critical for climate action. The upcoming UN General Assembly, the UN Summit of the Future and the Global Renewables Summit all taking place one after the other in September provide an important opportunity to reiterate our demands and escalate public pressure to compel governments, international institutions and corporations to listen and take action.
The governments of the Global North have consistently failed for decades to undertake their fair share of climate action both domestically and internationally. This fair share includes the delivery of climate finance for the Global South, an obligation that they committed to as parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. Climate finance is also part of reparations for climate debt they owe to the people of the South for historical and continuing harms caused by their disproportionately large contributions to the climate crisis.
September 19th – Demilitarisation Day of Action
Pay Up and Phase Out.
The global military – in peace and war – is a significant contributor to climate change. And these emissions correlate to ever rising military spending on fossil fuel reliant hardware.
Increasing militarisation of world affairs is not the answer to climate change – it is at the heart of the problem. There can be no secure nation without a climate-secure planet.
Urgent pressure is needed to address the role and responsibility of runaway military expenditure in the climate emergency through the allocation of trillions of dollars to fossil-fuel reliant militaries and associated (supply-chain) industries instead of climate finance.
Global North governments should end public subsidies for fossil fuels. Tax systems should be reformed, so polluters and profiteers pay their dues.
And with the expansion of a fossil fuelled global arms race well underway and new ‘cold war’ rhetoric rising again, the vast amounts of government spending on weapons and military operations that harm people, destroy the environment while also being a massive source of carbon emissions, should be diverted towards programs for climate justice and our planet’s security.
The various materials below mark this Global Week of Action and Day of Action on Demilitarisation
Summit of the Future: briefing & accompanying letter to UN General Secretary
Download: “TPNS BRIEFING SUMMIT OF THE FUTURE 2024“ [PDF]
Released September 18th with an accompanying letter to the UN Secretary General.
Video: Global Military & Big Oil vs Climate Change & Climate Finance (2.30s)
Graphics
1. End the military-oil relationship.
3. Divert the military spending trillions to climate finance
3. Divest from war. Invest in climate finance
4. Nnimmo Bassey’s quote
It is a vacuous claim for rich nations, most of whom are members of NATO, to plead economic constraints as the reason for not meeting their climate finance obligations. It is clearly false when we see how much they commit to warfare. Wars kill people, extinguish biodiversity, and destroy the infrastructure that could otherwise provide safeguards in the face of extreme weather events. Warfare is an act of climate denial.
Nnimmo Bassey, Nigerian environmental activist, author and poet. Foreword to ‘Climate Crossfire‘)
5. Where is the money for climate finance? 100bn vs 2.2tr.
6. Who benefits from military spending? The arms industry.
7. The wealthiest countries (Annex II) spend 30 times more on their militaries than on providing climate finance for the world’s most vulnerable countries.
8. The biggest climate polluters are the most militarised nations.
Background paper: stats, demands, overview
Download: Sept 19th Demilitarisation Demands, Messages, Overview [PDF]
Arms, Militarism and Climate Justice working group
Please visit the Arms, Militarism and Climate Justice working group website for more resources. You can also find about the Global Week of Action for Peace and Climate Justice September 21-28 https://climatemilitarism.org/
More videos
No War, No Warming : Grassroots Global Justice Alliance
How the US Military pollutes our planet and get’s away with it : Andrew Feinstein
COP28 Democracy Now: From Gaza to Ukraine, How War & Military Spending Accelerate Climate Chaos: Shirine el Jurdi WILPF, Deborah Burton TPNS
NATO, military spending and climate chaos: Mitzi Jonelle Tan
Transform defence for sustainable human safety 
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