[COVID 19 vaccine production. Photo: Katisa, 123RF] In June 2022, United States President Joe Biden invoked the Defense Production Act to accelerate domestic manufacturing of clean energy, in particular the production of five key energy technologies: (1) solar; (2) transformers and electric grid components; (3) heat pumps; (4) insulation; and (5) electrolyzers, fuel cells, and platinum group metals. Senator Ed Markey – leader of the Green New Deal in the US Senate and a champion for using the Defence Production Act to support public health, renewable energy and climate protection – commended t ..read more

Is it $73 billion globally every year or over $100 billion? In June 2021, ICAN produced a report Complicit: 2020 Global Nuclear Weapons Spending, indicating that the nuclear armed states collectively spent $72.6 billion in 2020 on nuclear weapons. However, this figure only covers the core costs of the production and deployment of nuclear weapons. It does not cover their full financial costs – which also include the environmental and health costs associated with the testing and production of nuclear weapons, as well as additional weapons, intelligence and management systems developed to protect ..read more

On Tuesday November 30, US Senator Edward Markey, a supporter of the Move the Nuclear Weapons Money campaign, took the floor in the US Senate to criticize the $768 billion US military budget put forward in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), and to promote his amendment to the act which would shift 1% of the military budget to initiatives to reduce carbon emissions and to assist developing countries adapt and become more resilient to the climate crisis. “The greatest adversary we face is not a foreign army, navy, or air force; it is the transnational threats of the climate crisis, o ..read more

UNFOLD ZERO, an international coalition promoting United Nations initiatives for nuclear disarmament, is circulating Protect People and the Planet: An Appeal for a Nuclear-Weapon-Free World, and seeking endorsements prior to it being presented to the United Nations during Disarmament Week (October 24-30, 2021). The appeal calls on cities, parliaments and governments to adopt immediate measures to prevent a nuclear war such as the adoption of no-first-use policies, commit to achieving the global elimination of nuclear weapons no later than the 100th anniversary of the UN (2045), and to re-direc ..read more

In late March 2021, US Senator Edward Markey, Co-President of Parliamentarians for Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament (PNND), and Ro Khanna, Member of the US House Armed Services Committee, introduced the Investing in Cures Before Missiles (ICBM) Act. The ICBM Act would stop the further development of the Pentagon’s new $93-96 billion ground-based strategic deterrent (GBSD) intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) and direct those savings towards development of a universal coronavirus vaccine, and towards the battle against other types of biothreats. “The United States should invest in ..read more

Peace and disarmament organisations around the world commemorated the 75th anniversaries of Hiroshima and Nagasaki nuclear bombings on August 6 and 9 with numerous events and actions. A number of these highlighted the role of the nuclear weapons industry in maintaining and expanding the nuclear arms race, and promoted the Move the Nuclear Weapons Money campaign. The campaign works to cut nuclear weapons budgets and investments, and move these to instead support peace, public health, economic recovery, climate protection and sustainable development. In Amsterdam, for example, nuclear disarmamen ..read more

In January this year the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists set the ‘Doomsday Clock‘ at 100 seconds to Midnight, indicating that the world was inching closer than ever to a cataclysmic disaster from climate change or nuclear weapons. Then the corona virus pandemic hit, a common threat to humanity that should have knocked some common sense into leaders of the nuclear-armed states, and evoked a pause – or even a reversal – of the nuclear arms race. But the reverse appears to have happened. The US Strategic Command re-affirmed that they are ready, willing and able to launch a nuclear strike if require ..read more

Young Africans from Children for Peace and the African Network of Young Leaders for Peace and Sustainable Development (ANYL4PSD) have given strong support for the UN Secretary-General’s call for a global ceasefire. And they have joined the Move the Nuclear Weapons Money campaign to cut nuclear budgets in order to help fund the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and address the Covid-19 pandemic. In a detailed statement Armed conflict, corona virus pandemic and a ceasefire: Impact on children in Africa, Divina Maloum (pictured above), founder of Children for Peace and co-winner with ..read more

Three former UK Royal Navy Commanders sent a letter to all UK parliamentarians on April 1 questioning the policy of maintaining a continuous at sea nuclear deterrent. The commanders note that the £2 billion a year cost of maintaining this nuclear posture and readiness for war appear to be unjustifiable, especially as the economic costs of the coronavirus pandemic are mounting, and while there appears to be no threat of a ‘bolt from the blue’ nuclear attack against the UK, for which the policy is intended to counter. In addition, the letter questions the decision by parliament to invest even mo ..read more

[COVID 19 vaccine production. Photo: Katisa, 123RF] In June 2022, United States President Joe Biden invoked the Defense Production Act to accelerate domestic manufacturing of clean energy, in particular the production of five key energy technologies: (1) solar; (2) transformers and electric grid components; (3) heat pumps; (4) insulation; and (5) electrolyzers, fuel cells, and platinum group metals. Senator Ed Markey – leader of the Green New Deal in the US Senate and a champion for using the Defence Production Act to support public health, renewable energy and climate protection – commended t ..read more