Militarism Fuels Climate Crisis
The UK government spent around £44.6 billion on defence in 2020-21 [1] and this will increase by about 10% and 15% in the coming years [2].
In the 2021 budget [3] the government pledged £15 billion for 2021-22 as part of the Net Zero Strategy,
In November 2021, the UK branch of the Global Campaign on Military Spending [4] (GCOMS UK [5]) published a paper entitled “Militarism Fuels Climate Crisis” [6] which claims that “For every £1 we spend reducing carbon emissions, we spend £7,40 on the military”.
Using the UK government’s figures for 2022, this should be a ratio of £1 on reducing carbon emissions to £3.2 on the military but, although less dramatic, the real picture is still alarming, considering that climate change is probably the world’s biggest threat to peace.
[1] https://www.statista.com/statistics/298490/defense-spending-united-kingdom-uk/
[2] https://rusi.org/explore-our-research/topics/uk-integrated-review
[3] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/autumn-budget-and-spending-review-2021-documents