In his article entitled “Armed Forces and climate crisis”, the Deputy Minister of National Defence, Nikos Hardalias, presents the operational impact of climate crisis on the Armed Forces as well as the efforts put to deal with this issue at national, NATO and European levels. The article was published in the newspaper “Vima tis Kyriakis”.

The Deputy Minister of National Defence, citing the operational impact of climate crisis on the Armed Forces, stated that the military infrastructures are deteriorating, their maintenance costs are increasing posing risks to the personnel’s well-being, while the expanded involvement of the Armed Forces in dealing with natural disasters is required both locally and in the form of aid to allied nations. 

In addition, the Minister said that the climate crisis inevitably leads to an increase in refugee and immigrant flows, which also reflects the need for enhanced surveillance of land and sea borders, while potentially developing into a hybrid threat.

In terms of dealing with the problem at the national level, the Ministry of National Defence has adopted a set of measures and policies, aiming to contribute to dealing with this issue holistically and on an inter-ministerial basis, in the context of the country’s gradual transition to a climate-neutral economy. The main axes of this approach are specified for the Ministry of National Defence in the recently revised Environmental-Energy Policy for Adaptation to Climate Change for the Armed Forces.

At the European level, various initiatives and actions have been taken, through implementation tools such as the Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO) and the European Defence Fund (EDF), in order to boost innovation and reduce the dependence of Member-States’ defence equipment on fossil fuels.

At the NATO level, the Minister referred to the recently announced establishment of the Canada-based Center of Excellence for Climate Change and Security, in which Greece will participate in pursuit of an upgraded role.

*File photo

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