THE CLIMATE FOOTPRINT OF THE MILITARY

MONIKA HALKORT IN CONVERSATION WITH FRANZ ESSL AND STUART PARKINSON

THE CLIMATE FOOTPRINT OF THE MILITARY
How climate-neutral is Europe's armaments and defence industry?

The war against Ukraine has triggered a radical rethink in European defence and armaments policy. Both NATO and the EU have drastically increased their military budgets and massively expanded the production of combat equipment, ammunition and air defence systems. Even Austria will be investing 2 billion more in new tanks, aircraft and military infrastructure in the coming years.
What all this means for national and international climate targets has been largely overlooked in the political excitement over the current armaments euphoria. Yet the military and arms industries are already among the largest emitters of pollutants and consumers of energy worldwide. At present, nobody can reliably say how high their share of global CO2 emissions is. The climate footprint of the military and defence apparatus is not included in national climate reports and greenhouse gas balances. Estimates assume a European comparison of around 5%.
The lack of willingness to provide information is just one of many deficits that stand in the way of a socially and environmentally comprehensible, future-orientated security policy. Is the planned phase-out of fossil fuels still feasible and realistic in view of the general armament programme in Europe? European armies may be converting to climate-neutral energy and equipment, but this is a long way from solving the devastating environmental and climate consequences of military conflicts. This round table will not be able to answer the question of whether there can be an environmentally friendly or climate-friendly war. But it certainly promises to provide some initial food for thought.

Franz Essl heads the research group "Bioinvasions, global change & macroecology" at the Department of Botany and Biodiversity Research at the University of Vienna. In addition to his scientific work, Essl is also extensively involved in the climate movement and communicates his socially relevant findings to the general public. In 2022, he was honoured as Scientist of the Year not least for this.

Stuart Parkinson is Executive Director of the Scientists for Global Responsibility (SGR) platform in the UK. The platform consists of researchers in the natural and social sciences, technology development and architecture who strive for ethical, social and environmental frameworks in their respective disciplines, with a particular focus on defence and the military. In 2021, Parkinson published one of the first comprehensive reports on the climate footprint of the European defence industry.

Monika Halkort is a social scientist and journalist