MILITARY EMISSIONS, MILITARY SPENDING & THE “COP OF PEACE”
To be a true ‘COP of Peace’ Baku needs much more than a call for a month-long ‘peace truce’. As a petro-state that is accused of ethnic cleansing, COP29 host country Azerbaijan has gone to great PR lengths in calling for the climate emergency to be the moment nations come together in the spirit of co-operation, in order to move forward on finding solutions to the climate crisis. In one regard, its truce statement does make an important recognition: “Conflicts increase greenhouse gas emissions and ravage the environment, polluting soil, water and air. The devastation of ecosystems and pollution caused by conflicts worsen climate change and undermine our efforts to safeguard the planet.” This is a big step forward: COP29 acknowledges the impact of conflict-related GHG emissions. But remember the 5.5% global military carbon footprint doesn’t include conflict emissions. At 5.5% this is more than the combined GHG emissions of the 54 nations of the African continent. We need all parties to go much further if COP29 – the ‘Finance COP’ and the ‘Peace COP’ – is to really turn the climate emergency corner on the two-headed monster that is global military spending and military emissions.
Transform defence for sustainable human safety 