How Much for the Planet? The Dance of the Millions…

As climate change displaces millions and threatens entire nations, governments continue to treat environmental action as a secondary concern. International summits promise funds that remain undefined or unpaid, while the world’s wealthiest powers devote vastly greater sums to military expansion and an accelerating global arms race.

There is nothing better than being aware of the risks we face, and of the priorities of those in charge. For the time being, their number-one priority remains the market, even as the planet deteriorates with every passing day: over the past year, 100 million migrants were forced to move because it had become impossible for them to continue living in their own lands. The destruction of Nature, which means the destruction of ourselves, and an arms race that consumes unimaginable resources…

Those who know what they are talking about assure us that we are destroying Nature, that climate change is getting worse by the day, and that by the end of this century, rising temperatures, water shortages and other catastrophes will have forced millions upon millions of human beings to migrate towards territories that are still habitable.

The world’s third-largest exporter of agricultural products, the Netherlands, is abandoning its productivist model and facing a crisis of such magnitude that it is destabilising global food markets. And this is only the beginning.

The United Nations did what the United Nations usually does: it convened an annual meeting. They called it COP, the Conference of the Parties, and this year its twenty-seventh edition took place in Sharm el-Sheikh, a well-known Egyptian resort.

Representatives from hundreds of countries, thousands of “experts,” lobbyists, environmentalists, journalists and other participants managed to reach agreements of little significance, which, in any case, nobody respects. On this subject, the COP held in Paris in 2015 remains a famous point of reference: an agreement was reached there on the need to finance the losses and damage caused by climate change, taking into account only the cost of measures aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

For the past 30 years, the most vulnerable countries, some of them island nations at risk of disappearing altogether, have been demanding the creation of a fund financed by the largest emitters of greenhouse gases. That agreement was finally reached in Sharm el-Sheikh, but… no amount was established, nor was it decided who would pay or when. There is apparently plenty of time for that, even as scientists warn that the temperature-limitation targets are both insufficient and unattainable, despite the fact that we are talking about a measly 1.5°C between now and the end of the century.

To be fair, I should mention that COP26 in Glasgow in 2021 secured a commitment from the wealthiest countries to contribute $100 billion a year until 2030 to assist poorer countries. I confess that, at first glance, the amount seemed significant to me. That is because I think like any ordinary sucker.

Meanwhile, Germany, using the war in Ukraine as a pretext, announced its intention to modernise its armed forces, a noble objective to which it will devote no less than €200 billion, or approximately $212 billion.

For their part, the United States agreed to “help” the Ukrainian army with $45 billion, the equivalent of France’s entire annual military budget.

Charity, however, begins at home: without the slightest hesitation, the United States decided to increase its annual military budget to more than $800 billion in 2023.

The list of countries that have embarked upon an urgent arms race is as long as a day without bread. It includes, of course, and for obvious reasons, China and Russia, but not only them: Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Singapore, South Korea, Australia, Turkey, Ukraine, the United Kingdom, Italy, Portugal and many others are bringing joy to the arms industry, buying weapons wherever they can find someone willing to sell them, beginning with Spain, the world’s seventh-largest arms exporter.

If there is one market that is visibly expanding, it is the industry of death: it has grown by 5.5% a year in recent years.

France, the world’s third-largest arms exporter, has seen its sales increase by 72% compared with the 2010–2014 period, even though it accounts for only 7.9% of total sales. Saudi Arabia is the world’s largest arms importer, having taken that position from India. When it comes to this particular matter, there is money, plenty of money. The leading exporter is the United States, with 36% of the total, followed by Russia with 21%. Germany and China come next.

As far as the actual amounts are concerned, a certain sense of modesty seems to prevent us from knowing the precise global volume. We do know, however, that in 2017 the combined sales of the world’s 100 largest arms manufacturers amounted to approximately $400 billion a year. (Source: SIPRI, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.)

So I said to myself that contributing $100 billion a year to save the planet, while spending four times as much on gadgets designed to exterminate one another… is peccata minuta: the money for the bread and croissants, butter croissants, of course, in other words, practically nothing.

But you already know me: I come from a poor neighbourhood. I am not complaining; it is simply that the scale of all this money does not fit inside my skull, and I mean the really big money. Two or three billion dollars more or less… for Elon Musk, that is pocket change.