Security: Why climate policy is good for Europe.

An ambitious climate policy contributes to Europe's security. This is the result of a study by the Kiel Institute for World Economy (IfW), which quantifies the added security policy value of higher CO₂ prices or a speed limit on highways for the first time. According to the study, strong climate action has a direct impact on the threat situation in Europe from a geopolitical perspective. "Climate policy is not a competing priority to defense – it is its strategic complement," says co-author Joschka Wanner.

The lower the oil price, the lower Putin's income. The calculation is based on the influence of global oil consumption on Russia's war chest. According to the IfW economists, lower demand for oil in the EU has a direct impact on the global market price of the fossil fuel – it falls, and so does Russia's income. One-third of the Russian state budget currently comes from oil (80 percent) and gas (20 percent) revenues. According to IfW calculations, if European countries reduce their spending on oil by one euro, the regime in Moscow will lose around 13 cents in revenue for its budget. As around 30 percent of the Russian budget currently goes on military spending, the reduction in revenue is highly relevant for Moscow, says the IfW. The decline is likely to be reflected one-to-one in Russian military spending, according to the economic researchers.

Savings bring security policy dividends. The bottom line is that every euro saved on oil brings the EU a security policy dividend of 37 cents. According to the Kiel economists, the EU could reduce its spending on security and defense by this amount without losing geopolitical strength in relation to Russia. Conversely, every euro saved on oil has the same added value for the EU as 37 cents in additional spending on security and defense.

A speed limit, for example, brings savings in the defense budget. The IfW has also extrapolated its assumptions to individual climate policy measures. The introduction of a speed limit of 120 kilometers per hour on German highways would not only save around 33 million tons of CO₂ by 2030. The lower demand for oil would also correspond to a security policy dividend of around two billion euros, which would not have to flow into a defense budget. If the EU did not give car manufacturers more time to comply with their CO₂ fleet limits as currently planned, this would correspond to a security policy dividend of around three billion euros, according to the IfW. Kai Schöneberg