NATO To Integrate Climate Change Issues Into Mission Planning

NATO has pledged to step up its efforts in responding to climate change issues, including adapting its operations and missions to the new environmental challenges, Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Tuesday

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 23rd March, 2021) NATO has pledged to step up its efforts in responding to climate change issues, including adapting its operations and missions to the new environmental challenges, Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Tuesday.

"We will start to integrate the climate change into NATO military planning and exercises," NATO chief said at the joint press briefing with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

According to Stoltenberg, the alliance should focus on exploring the link between climate change and security amid growing competition for scarce resources in certain regions, adapting its missions according to the changing environmental conditions, and reducing its emissions.

"Climate change is a crisis multiplier. Climate change is making the world a more dangerous place. And therefore it matters for NATO and therefore NATO has to address climate change," he stressed.

The press briefing took place before the start of the two-day in-person meetings of NATO foreign ministers in Brussels. During his address, Stoltenberg announced that he expected the ministers to agree upon a report on how to strengthen NATO's response to climate change and transform its military planning and exercises. The green agenda will also be included in the discussions of the NATO 2030 strategic concept.