2024 Climate Week Webinars: Divest from Militarism & Invest in Climate Justice

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Posted: | Climate Change, Military & Security

 

Photo by Longfin Media (Shutterstock)

By Aspen Coriz-Romero, Hanna Homestead, and Alliyah Lusuegro

In September 2024, the National Priorities Project at the Institute for Policy Studies co-hosted two webinars with 350.org as part of the inaugural Global Week of Action for Peace and Climate Justice, coinciding with New York Climate Week.

We recognize that war, militarism, and climate breakdown are closely linked. War is a huge source of carbon emissions and ecological destruction, while disproportionate investments in militaries and weapons divert direly needed funds away from climate action.

These online panels were made up of experts and activists that have long connected these struggles in the hopes of uniting under the global call to divest from militarism and invest in climate justice.

The Global Politics of #PayUp: How US-China Militarization Impacts International Climate Finance and Justice 

The climate crisis is already underway, and is impacting populations most vulnerable and least responsible for causing it. For decades, scientists have warned that preventing the worst effects of a warming planet requires urgent action - including transitioning to a green economy and equitably managing the global burden of severe weather and the shifting climate. 

International climate finance is key to these critical efforts. However, the U.S. and other Global North countries driving climate change have largely failed to follow through on their past climate finance commitments. A new global agreement on international climate finance is poised to be the key topic of COP29, the annual United Nations climate meeting taking place in Azerbaijan this November. 

This webinar provided an overview of the upcoming negotiations, U.S. climate finance spending, and how worsening U.S.-China relations are becoming a major political barrier to critical climate action. We heard about why divesting from militarism and investing in diplomacy is critical to achieving just climate solutions for a more secure future for all.

Participants:


Main Takeaways:

  • The U.S. must fulfill its responsibilities under the Paris Agreement as the largest historical emitter. Demilitarization is a central part of reducing U.S. emissions. 

  • Hawkish/fear-based political rhetoric about China is leading to hyper-militarization and regressive approaches to shared global challenges, including the climate crisis.

  • U.S.-China diplomatic cooperation is critical to making meaningful climate progress. Both countries play a key role as significant emitters with large economic capacities. Transnational collaboration is the only path forward in deterring harm and full climate catastrophe. 

Quotes:

Hanna Homestead, National Priorities Project: 

“The main drivers of the climate crisis - corporations, extractive industries, defense contractors, and the powerful interests of fossil capital that fuel them - are the living legacies of colonialism, and are at the root of all major threats facing working people around the world. At the same time, the U.S. and other Global North countries driving climate change are not only failing to follow through on action to address our carbon footprints - but are heavily investing in war and weapons - further exacerbating cycles of violence and climate collapse playing out before our very eyes.” (5:28)

Valentina Dallona, Justice is Global:

“While authoritarianism in China is real, and human rights violations are real…this trend of blaming China for all the hurt folks are experiencing in the U.S. is not only historically inaccurate, but also dangerous because it precludes any policy solution that fosters cooperation and sort of rules out any vision of a world where both countries can prosper. And ultimately, it actually won't solve the problems at hand.” (25:45) 

Analyah Schlaeger dos Santos, Minnesota Interfaith Power & Light: 

“Our human rights are being threatened within the U.S. as a result of our geopolitical endeavors. It feels like when we’re in the global arena and when we’re at home, we are not representing our communities. We’re not representing the present and future that we need to get behind. The U.S. [government]’s entire history has actually been one of harms caused, both internally and externally. There’s so many harms that need to be addressed…When we’re talking about our Fair Share, we’re talking about reparations, we’re talking about repairing harm.” (36:37) 

Kelly Stone, ActionAid: 

“The scale of climate finance that we really need [will require] a profound sort of transformation of our capitalist system into one that really values our different ecosystems and caring for people.” (47:37) 

Learn More and Take Action:

Indigenous Resistance to Colonialism, Militarism, and Climate Crisis

Colonial violence - and the militarized legacies that persist today - are at the root of global inequality, ecological devastation, and perpetual conflict that is driving the triple planetary crisis. Despite the increasing threat that climate change poses to all life on earth, the U.S. government alone aims to spend nearly $1 trillion this year on the Pentagon budget. 

This panel discussed the relationship between colonialism, militarism, and climate crisis. We heard how ongoing militarization in the Middle East, the Pacific, and on the African continent intersect, how Indigenous communities resisting colonial exploitation are the frontline against the climate crisis, and why environmental justice is key to our collective security. 

Participants:

Main Takeaways:

  • Colonialism, militarism, and the climate crisis are all deeply intertwined - one cannot be addressed without the others. 

  • Indigenous peoples around the world are on the frontlines of resisting colonialism and militarism. They are also vulnerable to facing the harshest impacts of the climate crisis. 

  • The genocide in Gaza is connected to militarization and violence around the world. Settler-colonialism is an ongoing project that is destructive to all human and ecological life. 

  • To properly address the crises we face there must be global demilitarization and a just transition from the bottom-up.    

Quotes:

Margaret Kwateng, Grassroots Global Justice Alliance:

“Struggle and liberation against colonialism, militarism, and the climate crisis are so intimately interconnected. It is going to be impossible to engage in decolonization without also engaging in demilitarization, and also then being able to decarbonize as a result of that. It's often Indigenous peoples around the world who are protecting the majority of our world's biodiversity in tandem with also preserving and protecting cultural legacies, and these folks are often on the front lines of militarism as well.” (07:15)

Naek Flores, Prutehi Litekyan:

“It's the same rhetoric that the United States government and the missile defense agency is using to justify the destruction and further contamination of our land. Saying that the missile defense system here in Guam would protect us [in a potential conflict with China], much like the Iron Dome in Israel, [this] is part of the propaganda being used to militarize us. It's important to mention that both Boeing and Northrop Grumman have already made about $500 million in contracts for the construction of the missile defense system -  these are the same corporations that made massive wealth, record-breaking wealth, in the aftermath of October 7th. It's definitely all connected.” (22:16)

Maurice Carney, Friends of the Congo:

“That colonial legacy is still very much in place where the conflict is unfolding. How do we know this? Well a few things. One, the Congolese people, about 110 million inhabitants according to the World Bank - about 70 million live on less than $2.15 a day, in extreme poverty. Nearly 7 million Congolese are internally displaced and up to 25 million are in need of emergency support. This is in a country where economists say there's an estimated $24 trillion worth of wealth in natural wealth. Yet, 70 million live on less than $2.15 a day… We're talking about a country that's steeped in a colonial legacy.” (34:09)

Aisha Mansour, Honor the Earth / Palestinian Youth Movement

“When you hear the sayings like, “a land for a people for a people without a land” and that they were able to “make the desert bloom,” it sounds like a really pretty sweet deal right? And then you find out that that's not the truth, because then you understand the intersections of militarism and colonialism and the climate crisis. And then you can understand why Israel has one of the largest ecological and carbon footprints in the world per capita, they rank in the top 10% despite the fact that it's a fairly small country. I mean, it's smaller than the state of California. It's one of the top 20 weapons exporters and importers in the world and we know that the war industry creates 6-10% of the air pollution in the world and accounts for 30% of the total environmental damage that we see worldwide. I think it's really important that we're able to articulate what are some of the root causes of the climate crisis.” (45:00)

Learn More and Take Action:

Aspen Coriz-Romero is the New Mexico Fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies.

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