Today Trident Ploughshares and XR Peace campaigners are visiting arms dealers’ and military locations in Glasgow to underline the massive carbon boot-print of the war machine and to demand that their harmful emissions be included in any carbon assessment.
The campaigners are delivering letters to these offices explaining how they are harming the planet, and demanding that they use the momentous occasion of the COP26 climate conference to announce the setting of strict greenhouse gas emissions limits on everything that they are involved in – including the research, manufacturing and sale of all their products, and in all their subsidiary companies, sections, and departments. They demand that transparent reporting requirements and independent verification are also included, and that they do not rely on schemes to “offset” emissions.
Angie Zelter, from XR Peace said:
“It is important to be here today to put pressure on arms companies and the military to come clean about their carbon boot-print and the need to stop arming the world. These are some of the biggest arms dealers in the world and all they are interested in is making huge profits regardless of the impact on people and the environment. This is not the time for gaining profit from armed conflicts by selling more weapons – it is a time for us all to change the behaviours and practices that will cause the destruction of most life on earth. As long as they continue to support preparations for and resort to war and armed conflicts as a means of solving disputes we will not be able to address climate change. All people of the earth face a common threat. To avert catastrophe, we must find new ways of thinking and work together to save our shared home, and this means that these companies must redirect their resources to address the threat of the climate catastrophe”.
Lynn Jamieson, from Scottish CND, said “It is a matter of extreme urgency that industry in Scotland switches from producing weapons that harm people and planet to socially useful low-carbon products .”
Gillean Lawrence, from Trident Ploughshares, said “I am pleading with you to stop contributing to the planet’s destruction. The dangerous risks faced by my grandchildren living in Glasgow, and by all children and adults everywhere, from the climate crisis and war deeply concern me.”
The locations to be visited are BAE Systems, Babcock, Lockheed Martin, Thales, Clyde Space, QinetiQ, Ministry of Defence, Digital Barriers, and the Armed Forces Recruitment Office. Letters will be handed in at each location, here follows the letter to BAE Systems:
We are very concerned about the massive impact your corporation is having on the environment, biodiversity and climate, causing widespread harm, affecting lives all around the world. As you are no doubt aware COP26 is starting in a week’s time here in Glasgow and military-industrial establishments such as yours will be under the spotlight.
During the negotiations for the 1997 Kyoto treaty, the US ensured that military greenhouse gas emissions were exempted from climate negotiations and unfortunately that has continued. Following that, in the 2015 Paris negotiations, reducing the military carbon footprint was left to the discretion of individual nations. Therefore, the obligatory published emissions frequently do not include military emissions.
We are writing on behalf of various organisations including Trident Ploughshares, which is a part of XR Peace, because war preparations, the sale of weapons that BAE Systems deal in and militarism in general are major greenhouse gas emitters and causes of other harm including the environmental pollution and destruction that has reduced the biodiversity upon which all life on this planet depends. The involvement of BAE Systems in the UK’s Trident nuclear weapon system constitutes a direct threat to our safety and global security by enabling and contributing to the existential dangers of nuclear war.
The climate and nuclear dangers can no longer be ignored. We are asking you to use the momentous occasion of the COP26 climate conference to announce a greenhouse gas emissions reduction pathway for the whole of BAE Systems which is compatible with the 1.5C temperature goal as specified in the Paris Climate Agreement. This pathway should apply to everything that your company is involved in, including the research, manufacturing and sale of all of your products, in all your subsidiary companies, sections, and departments. You should include transparent reporting requirements and independent verification, and must not rely on schemes to “offset” emissions.
Approximately 6% of global greenhouse gases are due to military activities. Of course, greenhouse gas emissions are not the only problem that your corporation is causing the world. Militarism is a central pillar of the extractive systems and behaviours that are driving the climate crisis. Getting to net zero by 2025-50 will require a radical social transformation including ending militarism.
We recognise that wars are causes of climate destruction, and further climate destruction will cause further wars. This mass destructive cycle has to be ended. Growing climate changes are already significant causes of many conflicts. They affect food growing capabilities and are a major factor driving desperate refugees to leave their homes. As the climate crisis gains pace there will be increasing pressures, famines and conflicts. These need to be dealt with through diplomacy before they turn into wars that indiscriminately kill millions of non-combatants and violate international humanitarian law, with disproportionate impact on women and children. The risk of nuclear war is increasing as the climate crisis deepens and international relations further deteriorate. The use of just 100 of the 13,000 nuclear weapons still being deployed by nine governments today could result in the catastrophic climate disruption known as “nuclear winter”, which is predicted to cause global famine and deaths of over two billion people.
This is not the time for gaining profit from these conflicts by selling more weapons – it is a time for us all to change the behaviours and practices that will cause the destruction of most life on earth. As long as countries continue to prepare for and resort to war and armed conflicts as a means of solving disputes we will not be able to address climate change. All people of the earth face a common threat. To avert catastrophe, we must find new ways of thinking and work together to save our shared home.
We urge you to look deeply at how your corporation can change into one that reduces international tensions, avoids war as a method of resolving conflict, eliminates nuclear weapons, dramatically reduces arms sales and all military spending, and redirects its resources to address the threat of the climate catastrophe that now faces us all.