Complex logistics, warfare and the associated huge infrastructure – fuel-intensive airborne, ground-based and waterborne transport – are creating a massive carbon footprint for the US military. According to a recent British survey, the US military ranks among the 50 countries with the highest CO2 emissions in terms of its CO2 emissions –
Three scientists and a scientist from Lancaster and Durham University analyzed the contribution of this huge infrastructure to climate change. The study has shown that the US military is one of the worst polluters in history as it consumes more liquid fuel and emits greenhouse gases that harm the climate than most midsize countries.
Based on World Bank figures from 2014, the US Army alone would rank 47th among the largest CO2 emitters in the country compared to its fuel consumption. The biggest contributor to this is fuel for the navy, jets and land vehicles such as tanks. Jets in particular are more polluting than on the ground, because fuel that burns at high altitudes produces other types of chemical reactions, the scientists said.
An Apache helicopter is unloaded from a transport vehicle of the US Army
According to the study, the US military bought 269,230 barrels of oil per day in 2017, emitting more than 25,000 kilotons of carbon dioxide from the burning of these fuels. The largest share was held by the US Air Force. According to the results of the study alone, in 2017 they received fuel worth nearly five billion US dollars (4.4 billion euros). The Navy spent about $ 36 million on fuel in the same year.
The US armed forces as a large CO2 emitter would be but mostly ignored, according to the criticism of the study authors. It is very difficult to get data. On the other hand, in the Kyoto Protocol adopted in 1997, which for the first time set binding targets for emissions of greenhouse gases in industrialized countries under international law, the United States insisted on making an exception for the emissions of the military and not reporting them.
The 2015 Paris Climate Change Agreement closed this gap. But if US President Donald Trump realizes his announcement and actually gets out of the international agreement by the end of 2020, the US military as a carbon emitter would again run under the perceptual radar.
Agency responsible for logistics
In particular, the study is based on data obtained by the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) scientists following requests under the Freedom of Information Act. Everyone has the right to request access to documents from state authorities through this US law. The Pentagon’s subordinate DLA plays an essential role in military logistics and has data available.
Around 27,000 civilian and military employees are working for her worldwide. The agency claims to provide $ 35 billion worth of goods and services every year, supporting over 2,300 weapons systems and supporting nine supply chains with more than five million items. It is also about the organizational support of the armed forces in the transport of the necessary material.
Contradictory climate policy
The risks and dangers of climate change were also understood on the part of the US military, according to the report by the study authors for the media platform The Conversation. It was not until early this year that a US Department of Defense report stated that much of the US military bases were affected by the effects of climate change, such as floods and droughts. The dangers would occur in about 20 years.
The report had been commissioned by the US Congress. Experts criticized that there were gaps in the enumeration of the Pentagon. Some bases affected by climate change were not mentioned, said John Conger, director of the Center for Climate and Security. The Democrats criticized that no protective measures were planned for military installations.
The climate policy of the US military remains so contradictory, it brings the study authors to the point. On the one hand, there are investments for alternative energy sources. Nevertheless, the US military remains the world’s largest institutional consumer of fossil fuels.
