COP29: Calling for Demilitarization for Climate Justice

The 29th Conference of the Parties (COP29), held in Azerbaijan, was billed as a "COP of Peace" by its Presidency. However, the event failed to deliver on its promises, particularly regarding the New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG) for climate finance. The much-touted Baku Call on Climate Action for Peace, Relief, and Recovery fell short, offering little in terms of concrete action on critical issues such as military emissions and their role in environmental destruction. Civil society organizations, including CAN International, of which Peace Boat is a member, condemned the conference outcomes as a "betrayal of the Global South."

Peace Boat was present at COP29, working alongside organizations in the Peace and Demilitarization for Climate Justice Working Group. This cross-constituency initiative, hosted by the Women and Gender Constituency under the UNFCCC, seeks to highlight the links between militarism and climate injustice. Ahead of the conference, the group organized a webinar during the Global Week of Action for Peace and Climate Justice to raise awareness about the financial and environmental costs of militarism and connections to climate injustice. Global military spending reached $2.44 trillion in 2023, and military activities account for an estimated 5.5% of global greenhouse gas emissions. If the world’s militaries were a single country, their carbon footprint would rank as the fourth largest globally—higher than Russia—yet military emissions remain excluded from international climate agreements, allowing them to evade accountability.

November 15, Peace, Health, and Recovery Day at COP29, became a key platform for action. Due to restrictions on civil society protests in Azerbaijan, civil society actions were held in the UN-operated Blue Zone. The Peace and Demilitarization Working Group organized an action highlighting the impacts of militarism. Participants chanted, “No War, No Warming” and “Divest from War, Invest in Climate Justice,” calling for the inclusion of militarism in climate negotiations. Speakers from organizations such as the Conflict and Environment Observatory (CEOBS), International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW), and Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) emphasized the urgent need for systemic change to address militarism’s role in perpetuating climate injustice.

Balqees Shaheen from Gaza speaking at the Action calling for Demilitarization for Climate Justice

A press conference organized in collaboration with organizations in the Working Group explored these intersections in depth. Ellie Kinney from CEOBS discussed the lack of transparency and accountability in military emissions, while Deborah Burton from Tipping Point North South proposed measures such as a tax on the arms trade and fossil fuels to fund climate finance. Hamza Hamouchene from the Global Energy Embargo for Palestine (GEEP) described how militaries are among the largest consumers of fossil fuels and argued that fossil fuel extraction fuels conflicts like those in Palestine. He called for an energy embargo to stop the complicity of fossil fuel industries in armed conflict and genocide. Tasneem Elfatih, a climate activist from Sudan, detailed how the climate crisis exacerbates violent conflict in her country, while Karina Lester, an ICAN Ambassador from Australia, spoke about the devastating legacy of nuclear testing on indigenous communities and its parallels with the climate crisis. Peace Boat’s founder, Yoshioka Tatsuya, made connections between the climate crisis, the genocide in Palestine, and the experiences of Hibakusha, survivors of the atomic bombings in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Panelists at the Press Conference

At the Moana Blue Pacific Pavilion, a side event was held addressing militarism for climate justice in the Pacific. Lennard de Klerk, lead author of the Initiative on GHG Accounting of War, spoke about the impact of military emissions and the PACRIM war exercises in the Pacific. Dr. Sindra Sharma, Senior Policy and Governance Advisor for Pacific Islands Climate Action Network (PICAN), highlighted the disparity between global military spending and the insufficient funds allocated for climate finance and the NCQG. Frances Namoumou, one of the founders of the Pacific Women Mediators Network and a representative of the Pacific Conference of Churches (PCC), joined the event virtually from Fiji. Frances spoke about grassroots efforts in the Pacific to connect peacebuilding and climate action, describing it as weaving threads into a holistic approach. Salā Dr. George Carter, Senior Fellow and Deputy Head of the Department of Pacific Affairs and Director of the ANU Pacific Institute, concluded the event. He noted that while the Pacific is one of the most militarized regions, only three Pacific Island nations—Tonga, Papua New Guinea, and Fiji—maintain standing militaries.

Frances Namoumou of Pacific Women Mediators Network speaking at the Moana Blue Pacific Pavilion event

Karen Hallows, Peace Boat staff and Co-Lead of the Peace and Demilitarization Working Group, said: “Despite claims that COP29 would be a ‘COP of Peace,’ the conference once again failed to address the direct links between the climate crisis and militarism. The ‘Baku Call on Climate Action for Peace, Relief, and Recovery,’ touted as a milestone initiative, fell short of tackling critical issues, such as the accountability and responsibility of militaries for emissions and environmental destruction. The commitment of 300 billion USD by 2035 and vague promises of 1.3 trillion USD for climate finance are not only woefully inadequate, but also morally indefensible when global military spending was $2.4 trillion in 2023 alone. Notably, the increase in military expenditures between 2022 and 2023 was $200 billion—almost as much as the proposed climate funding. There is an urgent need to divest from war and militarism and invest in climate justice. The NCQG should have been an opportunity, yet COP29 failed to deliver.”

The outcomes of COP29 underscore the urgent need for civil society to continue advocating for peace and demilitarization as integral to climate justice. Peace Boat remains committed to raising awareness and driving action, ensuring that the links between militarism, conflict, and the climate crisis are no longer ignored. Through collaboration with global stakeholders, Peace Boat aims to build a future where peace and sustainability go hand in hand.

Every morning and evening during COP29 activists held a solemn action reading the names and ages of those killed in Gaza and Sudan.