There were in fact more than 500 delegates<\/a> in attendance at the conference with ties to the fossil fuel industry, or twice the number of indigenous delegates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Scientists from within the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, or IPCC, acting out of fear that their reports would be watered down, leaked<\/a> part of the IPCC report months ahead of schedule. The report provided critical information about the huge energy consumption of wealthy populations and the need for them to adopt lifestyle changes in order to avoid civilizational collapse. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Additionally, Greenpeace UK reported<\/a> that more than 30,000 leaked files show corporations and nations, including petrostate Saudi Arabia and OPEC, pressured the IPCC to focus on potential technological solutions and exclude language calling for phasing out fossil fuels. In the end, COP26\u2019s weakened language<\/a> called for a \u201cphase-down of unabated coal power and inefficient fossil fuel subsidies\u201d rather than the \u201cphase-out of fossil fuels.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe #COP26 outcome is a compromise, reflecting the interests, contradictions and state of political will in the world today,\u201d U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres said<\/a> after the conclusion of the conference. \u201cIt’s an important step, but it’s not enough. It is time to go into emergency mode. The climate battle is the fight of our lives, and it must be won.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The US military\u2019s hidden role <\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The U.S. is responsible<\/a> for one quarter of the world\u2019s cumulative emissions, and maintaining oil reserves and supply lines is critical to its interests. The government\u2019s commitments to reduce emissions fall short of what is needed to meet either the goals of the 2015 Paris Agreement or to provide global climate leadership.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Various U.S. administrations have long kicked climate issues down the road and acted in self-serving ways. For example, in 2014, Edward Snowden released documents<\/a> showing that in 2009, the NSA secretly spied on delegates at COP15 to undermine negotiations. The U.S. also negotiated<\/a> for the Kyoto accords to exclude requirements to report military emissions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The U.S. Department of Defense is the largest institutional user of fossil fuels in the world and, consequently, the world\u2019s largest institutional producer of greenhouse gas emissions. Between 2001 and 2017, the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan alone emitted 1.2 billion tons<\/a> of greenhouse gases, cost $8 trillion and killed 900,000, according to the Cost of War project at Brown University. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIf the military were to disclose its full carbon footprint and do so on a regular basis, that number would be deeply embarrassing and create a tremendous amount of political pressure on the U.S. military to reduce those emissions going forward,\u201d former army officer and Afghanistan War veteran Eric Edstrom told Democracy Now!<\/a> \u201cWe cannot make smart choices intellectually and strategically, until those numbers come out.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n While the U.S. has taken steps to reduce emissions, the highly respected Climate Action Tracker rates<\/a> its efforts as \u201cinsufficient.\u201d If other nations were to follow the U.S.\u2019 lead, the temperature would rise 2-3 degrees Celsius. This is a death sentence first for island nations, but no one is immune to out-of-control temperature rises once the tipping points are passed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Veterans heed the call<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n With 140 chapters across the country and abroad, Veterans For Peace, or VFP, is one of many organizations focused on this issue. As a lifetime associate (non-veteran) member, I have been working to raise public awareness in the U.S. about the connection between militarism and climate disruption.<\/p>\n\n\n\n After VFP passed a resolution on global warming in 2019, members formed the Climate Crisis and Militarism National Project, or CCMP. In an effort to call attention to the impact of the Pentagon on the climate, the project has a resource-packed website and presents educational slideshows around the nation \u2014 meanwhile, our veterans have also met with the staff of President Biden\u2019s Climate Envoy John Kerry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Reducing militarism, collaborating with adversaries to mitigate climate change, and the need for transparency on military emissions were all on the table in what was a congenial discussion. The project shared our bold open letter<\/a> with Kerry\u2019s staff ahead of our April 2021 meeting. We continued to gather signatures and presented it to him, again, after adding hundreds of enthusiastic domestic and international signatories to support it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n CCMP also organized panels<\/a> for VFP\u2019s annual convention and for a COP26 coalition in Glasgow. (Our discussion on the role of militarism in climate justice can be seen here<\/a>.) One of our panelists, David Collins, a veteran from VFP U.K., served as boots on the ground in Glasgow providing us with daily updates and a final debrief as COP came to a close.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Meanwhile, CCMP\u2019s legislative team, led by Jim Rine, worked on a congressional resolution calling for the Defense Department to report and reduce its military emissions. Rep. Barbara Lee agreed to take the lead on it, and we began building a strong coalition<\/a> that included Food and Water Watch and Greenpeace to further support the resolution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wagingnonviolence.org\/forusa\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2021\/12\/Glasgow_3-1024x768.jpg\")