Canada will play a key role in enhancing NATO’s innovative advantage and in developing its response to climate change.
At the three-day NATO summit in Madrid, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Canadian officials are expected to outline Canada’s bid to launch DIANA, a defense innovation accelerator for the North Atlantic, as well as the NATO Center for Excellence on Climate Change and Security.
The Canadian initiatives came when Sweden and Finland reached a groundbreaking agreement with Turkey that would allow the two historically neutral Scandinavian countries, both fearing Russian aggression, to join NATO. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been opposing the swift admission for weeks, accusing them of backing Turkish militant groups, especially the PKK – the Kurdish Workers’ Party – which Turkey, along with Canada, the United States and the European Union, believes terrorist group.
On Tuesday, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg largely dedicated the opening of the public forum to the meeting on climate change threats. He announced a goal of reducing emissions by 45 percent for NATO operations by 2030 and zero by 2050. “It will not be easy, but it can be done,” he said.
DIANA and NATO’s climate center will have offices in Canada, although their exact location was unknown on Tuesday, the opening day of the three-day summit. Toronto or Montreal seem to be the most likely locations for their headquarters.
NATO announced the formation of DIANA in April, but gave scant details of the effort and said only that “Canada is actively seeking to host a regional office in North America.” The Alliance has already decided that Britain and Estonia will co-host DIANA’s European office.
The launch of DIANA marks a new move by NATO, which brings together the alliance’s defense and technical staff with technology companies and researchers. The center and its staff will have access to dozens of technology accelerators and test sites in NATO countries.
Innovations to make NATO forces more adaptable to climate change will be a DIANA project. For example, the alliance wants batteries that can work effectively in very hot climates and uniforms that can keep soldiers comfortable in extreme temperatures.
Artificial intelligence, big data processing, quantum technology, biotechnology and new materials are other areas that DIANA will focus on.
“By working with the private sector and academia, the Allies will ensure that we can use the best of new transatlantic security technologies,” Mr Stoltenberg said in April.
DIANA will be backed by a new € 1 billion fund (equivalent to almost $ 1.4 billion), which NATO has announced as the first multi-sovereign venture capital fund to push the alliance into the technology investment market.
Startup technology companies will be eligible for $ 200,000 from the fund for a period of one year, said a Canadian defense official, who declined to be identified because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
So far, 24 of NATO’s 30 member states have agreed to contribute to the fund. Canada is not yet among the participants. The reasons for the lack of registration were not known on Tuesday. Canada has historically lagged behind in defense spending. NATO wants member states to contribute to defense equivalent to 2% of GDP. NATO estimates that this year in Canada will be only 1.27 percent.
Neither Canadian officials at the NATO mission in Brussels nor Canada’s defense minister were available for comment on Tuesday.
At a public forum on Tuesday, Mr Stoltenberg identified climate change as one of the important threats facing the alliance. Climate change is a “crisis multiplier” that can cause conflict, he said.
He wants NATO member states to reduce their military’s carbon emissions by using renewable fuels instead of oil; launch an assessment of how climate change, such as rising water levels, can damage naval bases and other important military sites; and strengthening climate monitoring and tracking systems to identify the regions most at risk of extreme drought, forest fires and famine.
Canada, through Canada’s Department of National Defense and Global Affairs, has lobbied NATO for the establishment of the Center for Climate Change and Security Excellence for some time. NATO endorsed the concept that Mr Trudeau presented at the 2021 NATO summit last month.
The site will be funded by Canada, although individual NATO countries will pay to send their climate experts to the Canadian site. The price for setting up the office has not been disclosed.
In a May press release, Ottawa said the center “will be a platform through which both the military and civilians will develop, improve and share knowledge about the security impact of climate change.” It will also allow participants to work together to build the necessary capabilities and best practices and to contribute to NATO’s goal of reducing the climate impact of our military activities. “
Mr. Stoltenberg spoke about the use of fuels as hydrogen to power military vehicles. He said NATO could not lag behind other countries’ zero goals. “It would not be good for the military if we remained the only fossil fuel sector in the world,” he said.
NATO has about 30 centers of excellence scattered among member states. Canada contributes to half a dozen of them, including Estonia’s cyber defense center, which provides support to Ukraine in its war with Russia, and Latvia’s strategic communications center.
The text of the memorandum of understanding, which will allow Sweden and Finland to join NATO, a move that will support the alliance’s relatively weak northeastern flank, was not published late Tuesday, so it was not immediately known what concessions, if any. , two countries are trying to put up resistance to Turkey.
“I am pleased to complete this stage on Finland’s path to NATO membership,” a statement from the Finnish president’s office said. “I am now looking forward to fruitful talks on Finland’s role in NATO with our future allies here in Madrid.
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