This is the big one. The latest SIPRI global military spending figures are out, showing two shocking firsts for military spending; global spending Exceeded $2 trillion (US) and UK spent over £50bn. This is our opportunity to highlight the dangers of runaway military spending and the opportunity costs of diverting public resource from public health, common security and the climate crisis.

Key messages:

SIPRI has estimated global military expenditure last year was at least $2,113 billion (US), the first time it has exceeded $2 trillion (US): an average of more than $5.78 billion (US) every day. This comprised a 6.1% nominal increase since 2020 (0.7% when adjusted for inflation).

UK spending

• In current cash terms the UK rise in military spending for 2021 was in double digits – passing £50bn for the first time. Even adjusted for current rampant inflation and exchange rate change – real terms spending increased by 3% in 2021 despite the continued impact of pandemic.
• Per person, the UK spends more than double the EU average on it’s military at over $1,000 for every child, woman & man in the country. How much did the UK spend on weaponry for your family last year?
• For every £1 spent on reducing UK carbon emissions we spend £7.45 on the military. Our military burden is holding us back from tackling the real threats we face.

Ukraine

• Military spending as deterrence has dramatically failed. NATO spending in 2021 was 55% of all arms spending and 18 times that of Russia, but did nothing to deter Putin’s aggression. Recent military spending increases by NATO countries, while framed as ‘taking tough action’, will do nothing to aid the suffering of the Ukrainian people, they will only further stoke arms industry profits.
• Ukraine is asking for a global embargo of Russian fossil fuels – with a fraction of our current arms expenditure we could make that happen now, via investments in energy efficiency and rapidly deployable renewable energy. In the UK Greenpeace has called for a £10bn emergency fund this year to cut all Russian fossil fuels while combating UK fuel poverty and the climate crisis.

Timing

While we’ll be sharing content and media stories about the SIPRI from 8am, save something for the massive global push at mid-day UK time, when we’ll try to get a trending topic in political channels.

Hashtags

We recommend using only two hashtags per post on Twitter, on Facebook and Instagram you can be more liberal. Use the below as appropriate.

New for this year:

#GDAMS2022 

#GivePeaceABudget

Plus our standard:

#WelfareNotWarfare

#MoveTheMoney

Last year, by working together globally the storm ‘reached’ over 100 million accounts on Twitter alone. We hope to build on that success this year.