This TNI report – co-researched with StopWapenhandel and Tipping Point North South – delves into the impact of the global arms race on climate change and finds that:

  • Richest nations (known as Annex 2 countries in climate negotiations) are spending 30 times as much on military as on climate finance
  • The military of NATO countries like US and UK are keen to say they are tackling emissions but in practice there is no evidence the military can reduce emissions while increasing its ‘bootprint’
  • Rather than providing climate finance, the richest countries are selling arms to the 40 most climate-vulnerable nations fueling conflict and instability as extreme weather worsens
  • Egypt is a disturbing case-study of a nation supported by arms deals rather than climate finance which aids a military regime in repressing its peoples

There has been silence on the impact of militarism on climate change for too long, but there are signs of growing awareness including at the UN climate talks (COP27). Alongside our research, there was an official event at the UNFCCC that looked at the Ukraine government’s calculations of war-time emissions. There was also a release of this report on 10 November that estimated the global military carbon footprint as making up 5.5% of global emissions (if it were a country it would be the fourth biggest in terms of emissions in the world).