States Parties to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), meeting at the United Nations last week, were encouraged to consider common security initiatives to protect the climate as well as to prevent nuclear war and achieve nuclear disarmament.
Normally NPT meetings only focus on nuclear weapons issues. However, representatives of several MEGA organizations presenting to a plenary of the NPT meeting argued that both climate change and nuclear weapons pose existential threats to humanity, and that common security and global governance are required to address both of these issues adequately.
“Together, we must strengthen diplomacy, dialogue, cooperative leadership, common security, and the rule of law to prevent nuclear war, resolve international conflicts peacefully, protect the climate for current and future generations, and advance tangible steps toward a world free of nuclear weapons,” said Hon Rabea Abouras, a parliamentarian from Libya and member of Parliamentarians for Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament (PNND).
Ms Abouras presented a parliamentary appeal Turn Back the Doomsday Clock to the States Parties to the NPT, endorsed by parliamentarians from around the world, calling on the governments to undertake nine measures for nuclear risk-reduction, nuclear disarmament and climate protection, including to respond positively to the pending ICJ advisory opinion on climate change and support negotiations for a fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty, modeled after the NPT, to end fossil fuel extraction and emissions and to accelerate the transition to a global green economy.
Rehan Mahmood, in his presentation to the NPT representing Youth Fusion, reflected on another connection between nuclear weapons and climate change:
“The world currently spends over $100 billion annually on nuclear weapons. Imagine what we could achieve if that funding were redirected toward education, healthcare, and climate resilience.”
Mr Mahmood referred NPT delegates to a working paper submitted last month to the UN Office of Disarmament Affairs (in follow-up to the Summit of the Future) entitled “The UN Pact for the Future: Nuclear Weapons Spending and the Sustainable Development Goals in a Turbulent World.” The paper calls for a shift of nuclear weapons budgets and investments to sustainable development (including climate financing), and the promotion of common security to help facilitate this.
The ideas and proposals on common security, the ICJ, nuclear disarmament and climate change presented to the NPT plenary meeting were followed up in a side-event on May 1 entitled The International Court of Justice and the Climate-Nuclear Nexus.
Speakers included Malcolm Dalesa, Permanent Mission of Vanuatu to the UN – the country leading the ICJ case on climate change; Sophie Rigg, Co-Chair, Climate Action Network UK Board and Strategy Lead, Mobilizing an Earth Governance Alliance; and Alyn Ware, Program Director of World Federalist Movement – Institute for Global Governance, who was one of the leaders of the 1996 ICJ case on nuclear weapons.
The event explored the impact of the 1996 ICJ Advisory Opinion on the Legality of the Threat or Use of Nuclear Weapons, its relevance to the pending ICJ Advisory Opinion on Climate Change, what we can expect the ICJ to deliver in the climate case and how to maximize its impact.
The ICJ climate opinion could, for example, strengthen subsequent climate litigation in national and regional courts as well as climate protection action in multilateral forums including the Conferences of States Parties to the UN Climate Convention (COPs). It might also include follow-up contentious cases in the ICJ on climate change, challenging specific states that continue to violate their obligations to protect the climate for current and future generations.
Photo: Rabea Abouras (one the left), Parliamentarian from Libya and Member of Parliamentarians for Nuclear Nonproliferation and Disarmament, presenting to a plenary of the meeting of States Parties to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) on April 30, 2025. Pictured on the right is Rehan Mahmood from Youth Fusion who also addressed the NPT plenary meeting.
