Flight International - 04

Environment Defence
The US Air Force’s daily operations rely
on a ‘steady diet of fossil fuel’ usage
US Air Force
stakeholders. “From the High North to the Sahel,
climate change is a crisis multiplier,” NATO secretary
general Jens Stoltenberg notes.
“More extreme weather devastates communities,
and fuels tensions and conflicts,” he says. “Climate
change matters for our security, so it matters for
NATO. That is why NATO is determined to set the
gold standard on addressing the security implications
of climate change.”
The military leaders who are seeking to understand
the impact of climate change on warfare are clear
there must be boundaries.
“We cannot compromise our military effectiveness,”
Stoltenberg says. “NATO is about preserving peace
through a credible deterrence and defence. Nothing
is more important. If we fail to preserve peace, we will
also fail to fight climate change.”
“Our mission remains unchanged, but we
recognise that the world is facing ongoing
and accelerating climate change and we must
be prepared to respond, fight, and win in this
constantly changing world,” says Kendall.
Major General Karsten Stoye, the head of
Eurocontrol’s Civil-Military Co-operation Division, last
year wrote: “In defence, a suboptimal operational
outcome is not acceptable, because our opponents
may not be under the same constraints.
“Until new technologies offer levels of performance
as good as or better than current technologies,
the ability to adopt less environmentallydamaging
equipment may be limited,” he adds. “In
simple terms, a quiet, low-emissions fighter aircraft
may be great in peacetime, but it needs to survive in
combat to be of any value.”
Over the past few years, under intense pressure
to decarbonise, players in the commercial aviation
world have developed roadmaps indicating how they
intend to reduce their impact on the environment.
The over-arching target is an aspirational goal of
achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 –
adopted by ICAO in October 2022.
45%
Reduction in greenhouse gas emissions NATO collectively
aims to achieve by 2030, with net zero targeted for 2050
A handful in the defence sector are setting targets
too, some matching, or even exceeding the plans
of their commercial cousins. Last June, Stoltenberg
announced the decision by NATO as an organisation
to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by at least
45% by 2030, and down to net zero by 2050. “All
allies are committed to reducing their greenhouse gas
emissions as part of the Paris Agreement,” he adds.
One of the leaders is the UK Royal Air Force (RAF),
which might be the only service to have revealed a
specific target – and the aspiration is ambitious.
April 2023 Flight International 51