Russia has vetoed the passage of a United Nations Security Council resolution that for the first time would have treated climate change as a threat to peace, even as many Western powers increasingly take climate risk into account as part of their security strategies.

The resolution, co-sponsored by Ireland and Niger, would have required the top U.N. body to consider climate change as a possible cause of conflicts, and to look for ways to address the risks and head off potential clashes.

Twelve of the Security Council’s 15 members voted in favor of the resolution Monday. India voted against it, alongside Russia, while China abstained. Russia is one of the council’s five veto-wielding permanent members with the power to block resolutions.

Moscow generally opposes any expansion of the Security Council’s agenda, experts say, and has regularly used its veto to block Western powers from intervening in conflicts, including in Syria. It argued that the resolution, if adopted, would politicize a “scientific and economic issue.”

“Positioning climate change as a threat to international security diverts the attention of the council from genuine, deep-rooted reasons of conflict in the countries on the council’s agenda,” said Russia’s U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia.