Tracking Military Greenhouse Gas Emissions in War and Peace

Jun 22, 2022 | Conflict and Environment Observatory
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At COP26, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said, “there is no way to reach net zero without also including emissions from the military”. Yet, there is currently no formal obligation for any state to report its military emissions to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) – this is the military emissions gap. Because militaries have been historically excluded from emissions reduction goals, their ability to track their emissions lags behind other sectors. Without data on the current state of their emissions, militaries are unable to define realistic goals for emissions reductions.

The data that we do have indicates that military emissions are a problem. Militaries are huge energy users whose emissions are making a significant contribution to the climate crisis. For example, in 2018 US military’s emissions were greater than those of 53 countries combined, while the UK Ministry of Defence accounts for at least 50% of central government’s emissions. Both the US Army and UK MoD have announced commitments to reduce their military emissions, but without the means to fully track and report reductions, it will not be possible to monitor progress.