Media briefing: Defence, security and climate

Briefing ahead of the NATO summit discussing how aid, action to tackle climate change, and defence are all part of the same global and national security equation.

Who

• Lt Gen Richard Nugee (retd) CB CVO CBE, former British Army officer who served as Defence Services Secretary, and Chief of Defence People
• Camilla Toulmin, former Director of International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), now Senior Associate, Climate Change
• Michael Bradshaw: Professor of Global Energy, Warwick Business School at the University of Warwick, and Associate Fellow at Chatham House
• Gareth Redmond-King, Head of International Programme, Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU) – Chair.
   

About
 
With Russian aggression in Ukraine intensifying, as Putin increases his army’s presence along the EU’s borders, and as Trump shows diminishing commitment to NATO and to European security, many nations are understandably focused on ramping up their defence and security.
 
However, this has also generated false dichotomies pitting defence and security versus climate and aid spending. The UK has cut aid spending again down from the already diminished 0.5% of GDP, to 0.3%, explicitly to increase defence spending. Several other EU nations have done similarly, as the US has almost wholesale closed down USAID. Some commentators have also called for cuts in, or even ‘cancelling’ of, net zero policies to free up further capacity for defence spending. 
 
Ahead of the NATO summit taking place on 24th/25th June, this briefing will examine:

• How aid, action to tackle climate change, and defence are all part of the same global and national security equation;
• How energy security is part of the solution to reducing the influence Russia and Putin have on the UK and the rest of Europe, and;
• Why climate change and its worsening impacts threaten NATO member’s capabilities, and create new technical and geopolitical challenges.

If you would like to attend the briefing, or if you have any questions about it, please contact Gareth Redmond-King: gareth.redmond-king@eciu.net, t: +44 (0)7971 009 558.