Flight International - 04

Environment Defence
Airbus Defence & Space
“Like in other sectors, the
first step is to decarbonise
its industrial footprint
wherever possible, this
includes carbon offsetting”
Jose Antonio Coll Guzman
Head of sustainability, Airbus Defence & Space
support of societies increasingly concerned about
environmental issues,” notes Depledge.
“This gives rise to some uncomfortable and
complex questions. Such as, what is the acceptable
carbon cost for the military?”
As an example, he asks how people would
respond to another ‘War on Terror’ scenario. “Are
we prepared, as a society, to bear those costs again,
not just in terms of the human or financial cost, but
also because there would be a carbon cost of that
conflict too?”
While there are philosophical questions for society
to answer about warfare and carbon, leading
defence manufacturers are making strong moves
to address the due diligence required to meet
their Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG)
responsibilities, says Healy.
“While the E in ESG is difficult to abate in the
short-term because that’s about emissions from
fossil fuel use in operations, the defence industry
has been generally good on the S and G front,
making strides on board and workforce diversity and
improving the quality of reporting on ESG topics,”
he says.
“Some manufacturers have started working
with supply chains to report on and manage their
environmental impacts, but finding meaningful,
cost-effective and sustainable solutions is anything
but trivial.”
According to Guzman: “Like in other sectors,
the first step [for a defence manufacturer] is to
decarbonise its industrial footprint (buildings,
industrial operations, logistics, etc) wherever
possible, this includes carbon offsetting.”
“The defence industry is in a relatively unique
position, with fewer manufacturers making
dedicated and specific products for a focused
marketplace,” says Healy. “In this small and
highly qualified supply base it is not easy to swap
suppliers. This puts the onus on the entire supply
chain to work together to decarbonise.”
In its ESG report, Raytheon Technologies stresses
the need to attract, develop and retain world-class
talent. This talent increasingly wants to join a firm
that puts sustainability at its core, and if defence
entities do not have a strategy in this regard, they
could become less attractive places to work, it says.
“It has been observed that the further you get from
the front line the more of an issue this becomes for
recruitment,” says Depledge. “If you go into the military
to drive tanks or fly fighter jets, [sustainability] is
not really a big issue. But if you are set back from the
front line in more of a supporting role then people will
ask whether they would prefer to work for a ‘clean’
organisation rather than a ‘dirty’ one.”
Quick thinking
There are a multitude of questions and challenges
for the defence sector to consider, but progress
to answers is at an early stage, argues Depledge.
“Decisions must follow quickly if such thinking is
to have any significant bearing on the character of
military operations in 2050,” he says.
“This leaves little time for consideration of what
the pursuit of low-carbon warfare will mean for the
future character of military operations, how it might
intersect with other trends such as advances in
automation and AI [artificial intelligence], or how it
could be affected by major ruptures in the international
security environment.”
The debate around the defence sector’s impact
on and reaction to climate change is in its infancy.
However, there are leaders already tackling the issue
head-on hoping that many others will follow, and
quickly, as the military ponders how to deal with its
‘carbon problem’. ◗
54 Flight International April 2023