NATO allies have pledged 1.5% of GDP to resilience – but good intentions aren't enough. A new paper by Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung EU | Global Dialogue and the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) warns that without clear rules, the money risks disappearing into bureaucracy. The authors show how smart investments in energy, mobility, and supply chains can serve security and climate goals at once – and why getting this right is essential for credible European defence.
Brussels, 4 March 2026 – NATO allies have committed to spending 1.5% of GDP on resilience – but without proper rules and definitions, that money risks being swallowed by bureaucracy and relabelled routine spending, according to a new paper published today.
Sustainability for Resilience, by the Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung European Union | Global Dialogue and the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), examines how allies can make the 1.5% commitment – agreed at the 2025 NATO Summit alongside the 3.5% core defence target – actually work.
Resilience isn't a nice-to-have. It's a prerequisite for credible deterrence, and it needs to be planned for properly. The paper makes the case that sustainability and collective defence aren't competing priorities. Smart investments – in rail mobility, energy grid upgrades, decentralised renewables, supply-chain diversification, and nature restoration – can do multiple jobs at once: improving military mobility, cutting reliance on vulnerable fossil fuel infrastructure, boosting industrial competitiveness, and supporting climate goals.
To make spending count, the authors propose a role-based framework that aligns investments with each country's actual function in collective defence – whether frontline, transit, littoral, or less exposed. They also call for National Resilience Plans tied directly to NATO regional defence plans.
Roderick Kefferpütz, Director, Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung European Union | Global Dialogue: “The 1.5 percent resilience target must strengthen NATO’s security, not finance bridges to nowhere. Without clear criteria and planning mechanisms, governments risk relabelling ordinary projects as resilience spending. Done right, however, investments in energy systems, rail infrastructure or even nature-based barriers can significantly enhance NATO’s defence. Our study shows how.”
Read the new e-paper Sustainability for Resilience: How to Deliver NATO’s 1.5% Resilience and Security Investment Target, by Dan Marks and Ed Arnold from the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI).
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