Hon. Steven Guilbeault, MP
House of Commons
Ottawa, Ontario,
Canada K1A 0A6
Re: Our concerns about rising military emissions and expenditures in the midst of catastrophic climate change and our call for demilitarization for decarbonization and gender-responsive climate action
Dear Minister Guilbeault,
The Canadian Voice of Women for Peace (VOW) congratulates you on your appointment as Minister of Environment and Climate Change. We are aware of your personal commitment to and record of action on tackling the climate crisis. We hope that under your leadership, the federal government will be much more ambitious and rapidly reduce greenhouse gas emissions in all sectors of society to avert catastrophic climate change and keep global mean temperature rise at or below 1.5C. At the opening of COP 26 in Glasgow, the United Nations Secretary General António Guterres stated,
The six years since the Paris Climate Agreement have been the six hottest years on record. Our addiction to fossil fuels is pushing humanity to the brink.
We face a stark choice: Either we stop it — or it stops us.
Over the past year from record-breaking climate-induced forest fires and heat waves, Canadians have lost their homes, livelihoods and lives. In his speech, the UN Secretary General also explained that countries’ Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) do not reduce emissions enough, including Canada’s NDC. As the Climate Action Tracker reveals, Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise and our climate policies are “highly insufficient”. Canada must decarbonize more quickly and deeply.
Within this context of a climate emergency, we are writing to you about our concerns about rising military emissions and expenditures. The Department of National Defence’s (DND) carbon emissions are increasing and preventing the Canadian government from rapidly decarbonizing. DND’s growing budget to meet the NATO 2% GDP target is also preventing Canada from adequately investing in the United Nations Green Climate Fund. Canada reported military spending of $20 billion in 2014 and $33 billion this year to NATO. Further, VOW would like to express our opposition to militarized responses to dealing with extreme weather events and our support for gender-responsive climate action that centres community-based resilience, care work and Indigenous wisdom and leadership.
MILITARY EXPENDITURES DIVERT PUBLIC FUNDS AWAY FROM CLIMATE ACTION
VOW is concerned that the federal government spends much more on militarism than on climate action. The Department of National Defence (DND) has the largest budget among all federal departments and agencies. In 2020, according to the Public Accounts of Canada, the annual budget for DND was $27 billion, which accounts for 30% of all federal departmental spending. By contrast, the budget for the Department of Environment and Climate Change was only $1.9 billion. Last year, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute ranked Canada 13th highest in the world for military spending.
Under the Liberal government’s current defence policy, Strong Secure Engaged, over $553 billion will be spent on the military over the next twenty years to maintain “high-end warfighting.” With this public spending, the federal government will invest in new carbon-intensive weapons systems like fighter jets, tanks and frigates and recruit more soldiers. However, the federal government’s investment for the Pan-Canadian Framework for Clean Growth and Climate Change is only $132 billion over 11 years. The government’s updated climate program, A Healthy Environment and a Healthy Economy, adds only $15 billion for public investment and $6 billion for clean infrastructure. Yet, this pales in comparison to the government’s planned purchase of 88 new fighter jets for $19 billion and 15 new warships for $77 billion. Canada does not need new costly, carbon-intensive weapons systems.
VOW is aware that Canada is co-chairing with Germany a UN working group on climate financing. However, we remain troubled that Canada has failed to adequately invest in the UN Green Climate Fund to help developing countries adapt to the climate crisis. We note that the federal government’s newly announced climate finance commitment of $5 billion over the next five years for countries in the Global South is equivalent to the price tag for Canada’s new armed drones, which may be used for air strikes in those countries. VOW calls on the federal government to reduce military spending and re-allocate it to the climate emergency and climate financing, reconciliation with First Nations communities and social welfare programs.
MILITARY EMISSIONS
VOW also wants to bring to your attention that among all federal departments and agencies, it is the military that has the biggest carbon bootprint. DND including the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) consumes the most fossil fuel and is the largest emitter of GHGs. Carbon emissions from the military account for over 61% of all emissions by the federal government. Yet, military emission reductions are absent from Canada’s latest Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) because of the National Safety and Security exemption. As well, they are ignored in the federal government’s 2020 plan, A Healthy Environment and a Healthy Economy, and from the 2021 report, Canada’s Climate Actions For A Healthy Environment and A Healthy Economy.
DND and the CAF require a steady flow of fossil fuel. DND’s energy mix is comprised predominantly of aviation fuel, diesel fuel, natural gas, gasoline and heavy fuel oil to power their vehicles and operations. Yet, military vehicles like fighter jets, tanks and warships are notoriously energy inefficient, have long life cycles and have locked-in energy platforms that cannot be readily replaced by renewable energy. These vehicles are very harmful to the climate, the natural environment and to people. For example, Canada’s CF-18 fighter jet consumes 4,626 litres of fuel per flying hour and has an operating cost of $800 per flying hour. This is three times more than what an average car consumes in a year. These fighter jets were used to bomb Serbia, Libya, Iraq and Syria destroying civilian infrastructure and killing people. Burning fossil fuel for fighter jets to bomb other countries is unethical and antithetical to feminist climate justice so too is net-zero for national defence, which simply allows business-as-usual, carbon-intensive militarism. We cannot plant trees to offset the emissions of fighter jets; we have to stop fighting.
Thus, VOW is calling on the federal government to cancel the planned procurement of 88 climate-harming combat aircraft for $19 billion with a life-cycle cost of $77 billion. The government is not considering the greenhouse gas emissions and has not done an environmental assessment of this defence procurement. VOW believes that public funding should not be invested in weapons systems but should instead be invested in urgent environmental and social needs: Indigenous reconciliation, climate action, green jobs, care work, gender equality and a just transition.
DEMILITARIZE TO DECARBONIZE – FEMINIST CLIMATE JUSTICE – GENDER RESPONSIVE CLIMATE ACTION
The greatest security threats Canadians are experiencing are those from catastrophic human-induced climate change not threats from other countries. Over the past year, Canadians have lost their homes, livelihoods and lives in record-breaking forest fires and heat waves.
To prevent and prepare for climate-induced natural disasters, Canada should invest in natural defence not national defence: renewable technologies, cooling stations, water conservation, forest firefighters, sustainable agriculture, public transit, health care and the Red Cross.
We need to demilitarize national security systems and shift away from armed force and the idea of “adversaries” to a feminist peace and friendly relations among all countries. A feminist peace is premised on nonviolence, disarmament, diplomacy, solidarity and mutual aid and centres Indigenous women and other women of colour. VOW does not support the greening of weapons systems or the making of war more “environmentally friendly.” A feminist peace is against the very idea of war.
As a feminist peace organization, VOW supports the global efforts for feminist climate justice, gender responsive climate action and gender mainstreaming in all climate policies and programs. We bring to your attention the work of the Women Gender Constituency (WGC) at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Their research shows that the climate crisis is exacerbating poverty and gender inequality. Women and girls, especially Indigenous and people of colour, are at the greatest disadvantage and most vulnerable. Before COP 26, the WGC released their briefing with recommendations for UNFCCC members including Canada. WGC’s recommendations call for:
· A strong commitment to human rights in the Paris Agreement & a plan to keep 1.5 alive
· More climate financing for poor countries to mitigate the effect of climate change and for loss & damage
· The inclusion of human rights & ecosystem integrity in Article 6 of the Paris Agreement
· The advancement of the UNFCCC Gender Action Plan
VOW would like to know how the federal government is implementing nationally the UNFCCC Gender Action Plan. How is Canada increasing capacity building for women’s organizations, ensuring women’s leadership, including Indigenous women and women of colour in Canada’s climate plans?
CANADIAN FEMINIST PEACE ACTIVISTS AT COP 26 & CAN’s “Manifesto of Resistance”
We would also like to inform you that some of our members will be at COP 26 in Glasgow and they will be advocating for demilitarization for decarbonization and feminist climate justice and peace. VOW members will be joining the international campaign to have the UNFCCC put on the agenda for next year’s COP the problems of “military emissions and expenditures.”
In Glasgow, one of our youth members, Kasha Slavner who is a documentary filmmaker, will be presenting the trailer of her new film “1.5 Degrees of Peace” to show the direct connection between climate and peace. You can learn more about her important project here: https://www.1point5degreesofpeace.com/ When the film is ready, it would be wonderful to do a screening in Ottawa for Parliamentarians. We also hope for the opportunity to discuss with you and members of the federal government the importance of youth and peace in climate justice.
Finally, VOW supports the Climate Action Network Canada’s (CAN-RAC) “Manifesto of Resistance” and urges you and senior leadership at the Department of Environment and Climate Change to carefully review it. In the manifesto, CAN-RAC states: “Canada must acknowledge the inadequacy of current efforts and use COP26 as a renewed opportunity to show it’s ready for nothing less than a rapid, fair, just and inclusive alignment of our climate policies with a 1.5°C compatible future in light of equity, solidarity and reconciliation.” CAN-RAC lists several recommendations. VOW would like to end by highlighting one of CAN-RAC’s recommendations to the federal government “to amplify the voices of Indigenous leaders and activists working on the implementation of the Local Communities and Indigenous Peoples Platform (LCIPP). We ask that you to listen to Indigenous women leaders like Freda Huson, female chief (Dzeke ze’) from the Wet’suwet’en people and winner of the Right Livelihood Award who is trying to stop the Coast Gas pipeline through their territory, and other Indigenous women who oppose the pipelines and clearcuts across the country. They know that a climate-safe and sustainable future is only possible by caring for the earth and each other.
We look forward to your reply.
Sincerely,
Lyn Adamson & Hannah Hadikin
Co-Chairs
National Board
cc:
Erin O’Toole, leader of the Conservative Party
Jagmeet Singh, leader of the New Democratic Party
Elizabeth May, former leader and current Member of Parliament of the Green Party
Jacqueline O’Neill, Canada’s Ambassador for Women, Peace and Security
The Canadian Voice of Women for Peace (VOW) was established in 1960 and is a non-partisan, non-governmental organization comprised of a network of diverse women across the country. VOW has consultative status at the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) and every year takes a delegation of women to the UN Commission on the Status of Women conference in New York. For almost 60 years, VOW has tirelessly advocated for a world without war. VOW stands for a feminist peace based on nonviolence, disarmament, diplomacy and common security with gender equality. For more information about VOW, please visit: http://vowpeace.org
References:
Budget 2021
https://www.budget.gc.ca/2021/pdf/budget-2021-en.pdf p. 145
Canada (2020) A Healthy Environment and a Healthy Economy: Canada’s strengthened climate plan to create jobs and support people, communities and the planet:
Canada (2021) Canada’s Climate Actions for a Healthy Environment and a Healthy Economy: https://www.canada.ca/en/services/environment/weather/climatechange/climate-plan/climate-plan-overview/actions-healthy-environment-economy.html
Canada (2021) Canada’s 2021 Nationally Determined Contribution Under the Paris Agreement:
Climate Action Network Canada (2021) A Manifesto of Resistance:
Climate Action Tracker: https://climateactiontracker.org/countries/canada/
NATO (2021) NATO Defence Expenditures report: https://www.nato.int/nato_static_fl2014/assets/pdf/2021/6/pdf/210611-pr-2021-094-en.pdf
Public Accounts of Canada, Volume 2, Table 2.A.“Recapitulation of external expenses by type”
https://www.tpsgc-pwgsc.gc.ca/recgen/cpc-pac/2020/vol2/s1/rcec-reet-eng.html
“Secretary-General Calls Latest IPCC Climate Report ‘Code Red for Humanity’, Stressing ‘Irrefutable’ Evidence of Human Influence”: https://www.un.org/press/en/2021/sgsm20847.doc.htm
Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (2021) Trends in World Military Expenditures,
https://www.sipri.org/sites/default/files/2021-04/fs_2104_milex_0.pdf
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (2015) Paris Agreement: https://unfccc.int/files/meetings/paris_nov_2015/application/pdf/paris_agreement_english_.pdf
UN Secretary-General Speech: COP26 Must Keep 1.5 Degrees Celsius Goal Alive, November 1, 2021: https://unfccc.int/news/un-secretary-general-cop26-must-keep-15-degrees-celsius-goal-alive
United in Science 2021 report: https://library.wmo.int/doc_num.php?explnum_id=10794
Women Gender Constituency (2021) Pre-COP Briefing, United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change: https://womengenderclimate.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/WGC-PreCOP26-Brief.pdf