{"id":56052,"date":"2022-01-09T16:10:46","date_gmt":"2022-01-09T16:10:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/uncategorized\/2022\/01\/09\/we-must-do-our-part-to-mitigate-climate-change-the-militarys-pollution-problem\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T09:06:32","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T09:06:32","slug":"we-must-do-our-part-to-mitigate-climate-change-the-militarys-pollution-problem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2022\/01\/09\/we-must-do-our-part-to-mitigate-climate-change-the-militarys-pollution-problem\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018We must do our part to mitigate climate change\u2019 \u2014 The military\u2019s pollution problem"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Editors Note: This <\/i>article<\/i><\/a> first appeared on <\/i>The War Horse,<\/i><\/a> an award-winning nonprofit news organization educating the public on military service. Subscribe to their <\/i>newsletter<\/i><\/a>.<\/i><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the fall of 2018, Neta C. Crawford<\/a>, a political science professor at Boston University, prepared to teach a class on climate change designed to help students think about the issue in a big-picture way. Crawford\u2019s research expertise is in war, so she wanted to include a statistic on the military\u2019s contribution to greenhouse gases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI thought, \u2018Well, maybe I should just tell them what the emissions are for the U.S. military,\u2019\u201d Crawford says. \u201cIt was meant to be a line on a slide in a lecture.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But when she went to look up the figure, she couldn\u2019t find anything reliable. Instead, she found scattered and incomplete data on how much fuel the military consumed and how much carbon it emitted. The information that did exist largely didn\u2019t include overseas operations, even though the United States had been at war for nearly two decades. Major categories of fuel consumption, like much of the fuel used for aviation, seemed to be missing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Air Force Maj. Kristin Wolfe performs a demonstration in the F-35A Lightning II during at the Reno Air Races in Reno, Nevada, in September. The F-35 recently replaced the F-16, but the decision was controversial because the plane burns 2.37 gallons of fuel for every mile it travels, which means a single plane can produce almost 28 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent per tank. (Tech Sgt. Nicolas Myers\/Air Force)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In 1997, the Kyoto Protocol<\/a> \u2014 the world\u2019s first legally binding, international climate treaty \u2014 created a reporting loophole for militaries, exempting many of the greenhouse gases emitted during military operations from counting against a country\u2019s emissions totals. While the 2015 Paris Accords did away with this exemption<\/a>, they didn\u2019t replace it with an obligation. Rather, the decision of whether to report military emissions \u2014 and how to calculate them \u2014 was left up to individual countries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The result is a gap in our understanding of the United States\u2019 climate footprint<\/a>. Research from academics like Crawford, who now studies the issue, shows that the Department of Defense is a major producer of greenhouse gases, with more emissions than many industrialized nations. The United States \u2014 and other countries \u2014 have said they are committed to reducing military emissions, and earlier this summer, NATO released its Action Plan on Climate Change and Security<\/a>, acknowledging that better emissions data would help guide member states\u2019 military planning. But there is no consistent methodology and reporting requirement for these emissions. As the United States and other countries work toward net-zero<\/a> emissions by 2050, Crawford and others say, the lack of clear data from the U.S. Defense Department \u2014 the world\u2019s largest employer\u2014and other militaries is a major stumbling block.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got these kind of just little fragmentary bits of information and data about how big this problem is,\u201d says Doug Weir<\/a>, the Research and Policy Director for the U.K.-based Conflict and Environment Observatory<\/a>, which studies and works to reduce the environmental consequences of military activity. \u201cUntil states actually start reporting it, then you can\u2019t really do anything about it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018We achieved everything the DoD outlined as necessary\u2019<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

On the final evening of negotiations for the Kyoto Protocol, at the end of an all-night session in December 1997, U.S. negotiators pushed through one last demand. The final draft of the climate agreement included two sentences that exempted emissions from multilateral operations \u2014 activities that involve more than two countries \u2014 and from ships and aircraft involved in international transport. That meant that much of the carbon emitted during U.S. military operations overseas would not need to be tracked and reported to the United Nations\u2014which was effectively the negotiators\u2019 goal. In testimony to Congress on the Kyoto negotiations<\/a>, the U.S. lead negotiator, Stuart Eizenstat<\/a>, stated, \u201cWe achieved everything [the Department of Defense] outlined as necessary to protect military operations and our national security.\u201d (In the same hearing, Sen. John Kerry<\/a>, now the U.S special presidential envoy for climate, praised Eizenstat, saying, \u201cI thought it was a terrific job, and I thank you for it.\u201d)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ultimately, the United States never even ratified<\/a> the Kyoto Protocol \u2014 largely because of concerns that countries such as India and China weren\u2019t required to reduce emissions \u2014 but the damage was done. The U.S. military was not required to develop a methodology for tracking its carbon emissions, and the militaries of other countries that did ratify the treaty remained largely exempt from reporting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nearly 20 years later, the 2015 climate agreement signed in Paris did away with the automatic exemption for military emissions. Now, the choice of whether or not to report those emissions \u2014 and what, exactly, to report if a country chooses to do so \u2014 is left up to individual governments. As a result, the full picture of military emissions, from the United States and other countries, is still unclear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe level of reporting between countries varies a lot,\u201d says Linsey Cottrell<\/a>, the environmental policy officer at the Conflict and Environment Observatory. \u201cSometimes reporting is not occurring, [or] it\u2019s reported elsewhere. So it\u2019s hard to determine what contribution the military makes to the overall totals.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The United States does report military emissions to the United Nations \u2014 sort of. The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change<\/a> says that military emissions<\/a>, if reported, should be included in a category marked \u201cnonspecified.\u201d That same category also includes things like civilian waste incineration, so it\u2019s essentially impossible to parse out which specific emissions come from military sources. And certain major military sources of emissions \u2014 like fuel during multilateral operations \u2014 are listed in the United States\u2019 reporting<\/a> as \u201cincluded elsewhere,\u201d though it\u2019s unclear where. Other categories of military fuel consumption aren\u2019t reported at all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s like a giant jigsaw puzzle,\u201d Crawford says. \u201cAnd some of the puzzle pieces are in different units and forms.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Every major weapon system developed is carbon-intensive\u2019<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Crawford\u2019s hunt for a clear statistic on military emissions to show her class led her to a new research focus: trying to puzzle out just how much fuel the U.S. military consumes and thus how much carbon it emits. Using Department of Energy<\/a> data, Crawford found<\/a> that the U.S. military is a major polluter. Since the beginning of the Global War on Terror in 2001, the military has produced more than 1.2 billion metric tons of greenhouse gases. Crawford acknowledges her data is likely incomplete \u2014 but even with the available data, she found that the U.S. military emits more than entire countries like Portugal and Denmark, and that the Department of Defense accounts for nearly 80 percent of the federal government\u2019s fuel consumption.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some of this is because the U.S military owns a lot of property \u2014 and has a lot of buildings to heat and power. In 2018, the Defense Department had some 585,000 facilities, spread over 27 million acres in 160 different countries. Each of these buildings emit greenhouse gasses; in 2013, Crawford\u2019s report found, the Pentagon building itself emitted more than 24,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent<\/a>. Crawford found that installations account for about a third of Defense Department energy consumption. But the overall number has slowly decreased over the last decade, in large part due to energy initiatives across the service branches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
C.J. Pfutzner, U.S. Naval Research Laboratory mechanical engineer, runs to get on station to man the fire hose as Steven Tuttle, NRL combustion and reacting transport section head, adjusts the NRL-developed emulsified crude oil burner system\u2019s airflow to administer emissions testing for the Department of Interior\u2019s Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement at the NRL Chesapeake Bay Detachment in 2019. (Nicholas Pasquini\/Naval Research Laboratory)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The vast majority of military emissions come from operations \u2014 moving people and things around. The workhorse equipment needed to accomplish this task, particularly when it\u2019s built to withstand combat, can be notoriously inefficient, Crawford\u2019s report notes. Even nonarmored vehicles guzzle gas: A Humvee gets between four and eight miles per gallon. But by far, the most fuel-thirsty equipment in the military is aircraft. In fact, of the 100 million gallons of fuel the Defense Logistics Agency bought in 2018, about 70 million gallons were jet fuel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the United States\u2019 reporting of military fuel consumption omits much of the fuel used to power aircraft and ships, particularly those operating overseas. The government\u2019s own description of how it calculates<\/a> international military transportation fuel for greenhouse gas emissions specifies that all Army and most Marine Corps fuel, and any fuel delivered outside of the United States, not be counted. This leads to huge gaps in reporting, Crawford says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou have to count it,\u201d Crawford says. \u201cJet fuel is the biggest greenhouse gas from the military.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Airman 1st Class Jandreau Lance, a 100th Logistics Readiness Squadron vehicle maintainer from Caribou, Maine, inspects the oxygen sensor on the engine of a newly assigned low-carbon, fuel-efficient diesel sedan in 2013 at RAF Mildenhall, England. The 100th LRS replaced 19 vehicles with a newer, more environmentally friendly fleet. The miles per gallon on the new vehicles are around 60 mpg, as opposed to 15 mpg on the previous cars. (Gina Randall\/Air Force)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Take the F-35<\/a>, DoD\u2019s controversial<\/a> replacement for the F-16<\/a>. The new plane burns more fuel than its predecessor: about 5,600 liters of fuel per hour, versus 3,500 liters per hour<\/a> for the F-16, according to the newspaper Dagsavisen in Norway, where environmentalists have protested the purchase of the planes. Crawford calculated that the Air Force\u2019s version of the plane, the F-35A, gets about 2.37 gallons per nautical mile. Note that\u2019s not miles per gallon \u2014 that\u2019s 2.37 gallons of fuel burned for every mile traveled. On a single tank of gas, one plane can produce almost 28 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent. The United States plans to buy close to 2,500 of the planes, with the expectation that they\u2019ll fly until at least 2070.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Military equipment is purchased with the understanding that it will be around for a long time, which critics argue contributes to the difficulty of reducing military emissions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey can\u2019t just switch off [the F-35 program],\u201d says Oliver Belcher<\/a>, a professor at Durham University who has studied military emissions by tracking Defense Logistics Agency fuel purchases<\/a>. \u201cDespite these sort of pronouncements to green the military and all the rest of it, every major weapon system developed, from fighter jets to aircraft carriers to you name it, is extremely carbon-intensive. \u2026 Weapons systems lock in certain carbon-intensive technologies.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018It\u2019s being talked about\u2019<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Part of the difficulty in tracking military emissions is there are so many moving parts. A military is a sprawling, bureaucratic apparatus, with people and things constantly going in different directions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen you\u2019re in a theater of operations, there isn\u2019t somebody there who\u2019s accounting for every single bit of, this Humvee goes here, and that Humvee goes there,\u201d Belcher says. \u201c[It\u2019s] extremely difficult to keep track of.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Belcher\u2019s research works to develop better methodologies for tracking and estimating military emissions. He\u2019s not the only one. Last summer, in its climate change action plan, NATO announced<\/a> that for the first time, it would develop a way to help member states calculate their military emissions. It also floated the possibility of helping member nations develop targets for military emissions reductions \u2014 though it noted that any reduction targets would be voluntary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Weir was skeptical that the plan will include comprehensive emissions accounting. But, he says, any mention of reducing military emissions is welcome progress. \u201cThe fact is it\u2019s on the agenda. It\u2019s being talked about.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Col. Jay Wylie, assistant chief of staff, G-4 installation and logistics, speaks to members of the Mojave Desert Air Quality Management District at their headquarters in 2017. Wylie accepted an award on behalf of the Combat Center, which was granted to the installation for its dedication to using clean energy and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. (Lance Cpl. Isaac Cantrell\/Marine Corps)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Militaries themselves are taking notice. Last month, the head of the United Kingdom\u2019s Royal Air Force<\/a>, Sir Mike Wigston<\/a>, announced plans<\/a> for the service to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2040, a decade earlier than the United Kingdom has legally committed to reach net zero across the country. He highlighted sourcing jet fuel from more sustainable sources, like ethanol or recycled waste oil, and a zero-emissions aircraft flying by the end of the decade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been working on these issues for quite a long time,\u201d Weir says. \u201cThe change in dynamic around this topic over the last 18 months has been pretty astonishing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In early November, Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks<\/a> said<\/a> President Joe Biden\u2019s goal of reaching net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 would affect the Defense Department. \u201cThe department is committed to meeting the challenge, by making significant changes in our use of energy and increasing our investments in clean energy technology,\u201d she said. Hicks highlighted a more sustainable supply chain, as well as a zero-emissions nontactical vehicle fleet and hybrid-electric tactical vehicles, as among the department\u2019s goals. \u201cAs a nation and a department, we must do our part to mitigate climate change itself.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018They have caused poisoning of air and water\u2019<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

At the beginning of November, as world leaders met in Glasgow for the COP26<\/a> climate summit, Crawford, Belcher, Weir, and Cottrell, along with other academics and activists, gathered in an Arctic basecamp tent<\/a> in the city for a panel discussion on the state of military emissions and to launch a new website<\/a> dedicated to corralling disparate emissions reporting. The site pulls government reporting on countries\u2019 military emissions, as well as data like gross domestic product and military expenditure, into one database to make comparisons between countries easier and to show more clearly the state of reporting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks tours Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility with senior Naval leadership on Oahu, Hawaii, Dec. 14, 2021. (Staff Sgt. Brittany A. Chase\/Defense Department)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Although military emissions were not on the formal agenda at the United Nations meeting, more than 200 civil society organizations, including Amnesty International<\/a> and Human Rights Watch<\/a>, signed on to the Conflict and Environment Observatory\u2019s call for governments to commit to meaningful emissions reductions ahead of the summit<\/a>. During protests at COP26, climate activists called out the U.S. military specifically for its role in climate change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNot only have Western-induced wars led to the spikes in the carbon emissions, they have led to use of depleted uranium and they have caused poisoning of air and water,\u201d Ayisha Siddiqa<\/a>, a Pakistani climate activist, told a crowd during a youth protest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat we\u2019re trying to do at COP26 is really get this on the agenda for COP27,\u201d Belcher says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Belcher and Crawford say the military is taking the threat of climate change seriously, and they acknowledge some of its green initiatives. But they argue that in the absence of reporting requirements, there\u2019s a lack of real accountability. That makes it easy to avoid confronting some of the tougher questions about military operations and climate change \u2014 things like continued investment in carbon-intensive technologies, or \u201cnational security\u201d as an automatic trump card.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But in the face of a global crisis, not thinking through those trade-offs head-on is a mistake, Crawford says. \u201cYou have to start questioning everything,\u201d she says. \u201cWe don\u2019t have time to have unquestioned assumptions.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This War Horse feature was reported by Sonner Kehrt, edited by Kelly Kennedy, fact-checked by Ben Kalin, and copy-edited by Mitchell Hansen-Dewar.<\/i><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sonner Kehrt<\/i><\/a> is a journalist in California. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, Wired Magazine, The Verge, and other publications. She studied government at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy and served for five years as a Coast Guard officer before earning a master\u2019s in democracy studies from Georgetown University and a master\u2019s of journalism degree from UC Berkeley.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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