NATO states do not have to choose between increasing defense spending and addressing climate change, they can pursue both goals at the same time, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Tuesday.
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 09th October, 2018) NATO states do not have to choose between increasing defense spending and addressing climate change, they can pursue both goals at the same time, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Tuesday.
On Monday, UN Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change (IPCC) released a report, stressing the need for the world to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) by 2030 instead of the 2 degrees Celsius target agreed in 2015. To meet the new target, global net human-caused CO2 emissions would need to be cut by 45 percent from 2010 levels by 2030, reaching "net zero" around 2050. The panel called for "rapid, far-reaching and unprecedented changes in all aspects of society."
"We cannot say that we either spend on addressing climate change or defense, we just need to do both," Stoltenberg said at a joint press conference with Slovenian Prime Minister Marjan Sarec in Ljubljana.
The NATO chief, who served two non-consecutive terms as the prime minister of Norway in the past, added that investment in new technologies was the "industry of the future."
"It is profitable. It is possible to earn money if you invest in clean and environmentally-friendly technology," Stoltenberg pointed out.
The NATO chief added that the European Union had agreed to operate under the principle that "polluters" should pay.
"They are going to pay for the investments in green technology ... One of the most effective tools we have in the fight against climate change is carbon pricing, and that actually generates revenue to states' budgets, which can be used then to increase defense spending," Stoltenberg said.
Under a carbon pricing scheme, entities have to pay for their carbon dioxide emissions either via a carbon tax or trough buying emission permits.
Earlier in the day, Stoltenberg reiterated his call on Slovenia to boost its defense spending. The target defense spending for any NATO member state is 2 percent of its GDP. The NATO chief said the average for NATO members, excluding the United States, was at about 1.5 percent of the GDP, while Slovenia was at about 1 percent.
