NATO upgrade: climate killer with 300 million tons of CO2 per year!

NATO upgrade: climate killer with 300 million tons of CO2 per year!

Deutschland - The planned upgrade of NATO could lead to a significant increase in greenhouse gas emissions. According to a report by Compact , it is expected that the emissions could increase by almost 200 million tons per year due to these military measures. Critics warn that the investments in armaments programs not only cause CO2 costs, but also deduct valuable resources from necessary climate protection measures.

The current military spending continues to have far -reaching effects on efforts to combat climate change. Higher arms expenditure could reduce decisive means that are required for climate protection. This has gained additional explosiveness in the debate about the complexity of the security situation. In the compact special edition "climate terrorist", the way threaten scenarios and their author are shown.

military emissions in focus

A detailed study, published by several international organizations, including the Transnational Institute, puts the CO2 emissions of the NATO countries at almost 200 million tons in 2021. This is in relation to more than a quarter of Germany's total greenhouse gas emissions, as reported by the taz . An increase to an estimated 226 million tons is expected for the current year. If NATO military emissions continue to rise as planned, they could reach the 300 million tons per year by the end of the decade.

In international comparison, the NATO armies would be their own country, in 40th place of the countries with the highest CO2 emissions. Despite these alarming numbers, the data situation on the climate balance of military and war remains limited. States were not obliged to state military emissions under the Kyoto protocol, and the transparency varies significantly among the countries of the Paris Agreement.

German climate goals in danger

Germany currently only reports military emissions that occur on German soil, which leads to a higher estimate in the study mentioned (around 10 million tons). An increase to 15 million tons is forecast for 2028. In view of the planned upgrade, Angelika Clauss from the IPPNW criticize that this is in direct contradiction to the German climate goals.

The expert council for climate issues and the Federal Environment Agency have found that Germany does not take the right course on the way to its climate goals for 2030. Depending on the scenario, the country could emit too much between 194 and 331 million tons of CO2 by 2030. Dirk Messner, head of the authorities, emphasizes the urgent need for additional measures to achieve the ambitious goal of climate neutrality by 2045