On Tuesday 7 June, the European Parliament called for a European defence contribution to the fight against climate change.
“All military capabilities and services used by the Union and its Member States should contribute to the achievement of the Union’s climate objectives and adapt to increasingly difficult climatic conditions in order, inter alia, to carry out missions within the Union and abroad,” stresses the report by Thomas Waitz (Greens/EFA, Austrian), which the European Parliament adopted (356 votes in favour, 159 against and 114 abstentions).
It is important to systematically include climate and environmental considerations in military technology, research, procurement and infrastructure.
MEPs also believe that the EU’s external action and Member States’ armed forces should work to reduce their own carbon footprint and their negative impact on natural resources and biodiversity. They call on the High Representative to present, by mid-2023, an assessment of the carbon footprint and environmental impact of the Union’s external action “with the aim of laying the foundations for a contribution to climate change mitigation”.
MEPs also called on the High Representative to ensure that environmental protection and the fight against climate change and its effects are “properly integrated” into the EU’s external action.
The European Parliament also calls for the full implementation of the Climate Change and Defence Roadmap presented by the EEAS in November 2020.
Finally, it calls for climate change and security to form a new area of cooperation between the EU and NATO.
See the report: https://aeur.eu/f/1yh (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)