The International Fellowship of Reconciliation is committed to achieve a sustainable, just, and nonviolent world and highlights the connection between Climate Change and Peace Issues.
In line with this view, IFOR has joined other international and local organizations in the Call to Governments to commit to meaningful military emissions cuts at COP26.
This Call has been launched by the Conflict and Environment Observatory
IFOR has also joined the Call to Stop Excluding Military Pollution from Climate Agreements sponsored by World beyond War, together with GCOMS - Global Campaign on Military Spending, Peace Action Maine, Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action, RootsAction.org
Read more about this Call here.
The 2015 Paris Agreement left cutting military greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to the discretion of individual nations.
Militaries are huge energy users and contribute significant GHG emissions, as well as causing wider adverse environmental impacts from training, activities and operations. Militaries are typically the largest energy consumers among government agencies, but historically there has been a reluctance to disclose data on their emissions.
Global military expenditure rose by 2.6% in 2020 to almost US $2 trillion, in spite of a fall in global GDP of 4.4% due to the COVID-19 pandemic.1 The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change obliges signatories to publish annual GHG emissions, but military emissions reporting is voluntary and often not included. NATO has acknowledged the problem but not created any specific requirements to address it. In June 2021 NATO agreed to ‘assess the feasibility of reaching net-zero emissions by 2050,’ which would apply to its activities.
We encourage individuals and organizations to join these international efforts!
The Climate Catastrophe is a reality for many people on this planet and will soon affect everyone. It's an emergency!
IFOR is concerned and aware of the connection of this issue with other important ones such as migration, war, land exploitation, nuclear disarmament, human rights and so on.
For these reasons the IFOR fellowship is engaging in an internal discussion to listen to global perspectives and hear many different voices around the globe, identify areas where action is needed and engage in initiatives tackling the Climate Catastrophe.