Defence firms given green mission in war against global warming

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As part of the Government’s “net zero” agenda, any defence contractor that fails to show they are taking steps to become carbon neutral may risk not receiving further contracts from the Abbey Wood, Bristol based purchasing team.

However, South Thanet Tory MP Craig Mackinlay said the push for green weaponry was “lunacy”.

He warned: “These revelations show the net zero agenda has taken a turn for lunacy. I hope the MoD is requesting similar fair play from Putin and other potential enemies.”

The bold ambition was announced by Andrew Forzani, director general (commercial) at the MoD’s Defence and Defence Equipment & Support arm,  which controls a £20bn budget across nearly 6,000 contracts from IT infrastructure and services, food, clothing and medical supplies to large military equipment platforms, such as ships, aircraft and vehicles.

Currently, around 10 percent of the weighting to an MoD procurement decision goes to considering “social value” factors such as “Covid recovery: tackling economic inequality, fighting climate change, equal opportunity and well-being.”

But environmental issues are to take a greater precedence.

Writing for the internal publication, Desider, Forzani revealed that pressure from government and DE&S was already having visible results with defence giants such as BAe in supporting its own drive “ towards sustainability with noticeable improvements to their targets of hitting net zero by 2030 for the company and 2050 for their whole supply chain.”

He added: “One of my ambitions for defence procurement is that we only do business with suppliers that meet a certain, sustainable and environmental standard. I think this is the sort of game-changing commitment we need.

“We’re not there yet, but with a really clear net-zero agenda, we could ensure that we only operate with companies that are on the same track to becoming carbon neutral as us.

“I’d like to set a really clear standard on what we expect from suppliers, and I’d like DE&S to take the lead in this.”

Last night General Sir Richard Barrons, who led Joint Forces Command until 2016, said there was a “contradiction” between how equipment, platforms such as warships and weapons were produced, and what they were used for.

“War is not a carbon neutral event. Killing people, flattening cities to the ground and breaking their stuff is not a tidy business,” he said.

“Rebuilding Mariupol would incur a massive carbon cost – it would be a massive green black mark.”

But he said embracing a green agenda would pay dividends.

“The days when we sacrificed the environment we bequeathed to our children in order to save money in the short term are gone,” he said.

“Making things with no regard to environmental costs in production of operations – tanks that used gallons – is no longer sustainable.

“Electrically-powered vehicles could provide operational advantages because they are quieter.

“And, because the higher costs needed to achieve this will essentially make it a rich country’s market, it could end up being protectionist – if you only buy green stuff from green manufacturers ,you are excluding cheaper suppliers from other sources whose clients don’t make the same demands.”

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