– If we do not succeed in our global ambitions for emission cuts, climate change will develop into our biggest security policy problem, says Eide to NTB.
He himself participated in the Climate Changed World side event at the NATO summit in Washington on Tuesday.
A new knowledge center for climate and security was launched there – the Nato Climate Change Center of Excellence (CCASCOE). The center will be located in Canada and will provide NATO with better knowledge of the connections between climate and security.
Norway supports the center with one employee.
– Stoltenberg played an important role
Eide praises NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg for raising the focus on the connection between climate and security.
– Stoltenberg has played a very important role. This is now a connection that is highly recognized in many military circles, says Eide.
The final declaration from the summit will also probably contain a section on climate and security, he says.
– Norway attaches great importance to the alliance’s goal of becoming a leader when it comes to understanding and countering climate change’s consequences for allied security, says Eide.
Three areas
Eide points to three areas where climate change can directly threaten security:
* Large areas will become uninhabitable, and food production and critical supply lines will break down. It will send millions of people fleeing.
* Already today, climate change has major consequences for defense and military operations. Sea level rise and more frequent extreme weather challenge a number of allied naval bases, and a warmer climate means that the ability to transport heavier equipment over land is weakened.
* Climate change will affect advanced supply chains.
– The modern, global economy has become so complex that if there is a crisis in one place, it appears elsewhere, the foreign minister points out.
New opportunities
At the same time, Nato has seized the opportunities that new climate technology offers, according to Eide.
For example, replacing the diesel in military vehicles with hydrogen produced with wind power out in the field.
NATO has committed to a 45 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from its own operations by 2030, and net-zero emissions by 2050.
– But you have to have a strategy to use the technology. Defense materiel in Norway already has projects on how to think regarding future energy use, says Eide.
NATO itself follows up on its climate ambition through an action plan called “Nato Climate change and security action plan”.
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2024-07-11 15:34:21