Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • COMMENT

Decarbonize the military — mandate emissions reporting

Armed forces have a massive carbon footprint that is absent from global accounting.
  1. Mohammad Ali Rajaeifar

    1. Mohammad Ali Rajaeifar is a research associate in the School of Engineering, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK, and a researcher in the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK.

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google Scholar

  2. Oliver Belcher

    1. Oliver Belcher is an associate professor in the School of Government and International Affairs, Durham University, Durham, UK.

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google Scholar

  3. Stuart Parkinson

    1. Stuart Parkinson is executive director of Scientists for Global Responsibility, Lancaster, UK.

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google Scholar

  4. Benjamin Neimark

    1. Benjamin Neimark is a senior lecturer in the School of Business and Management, Queen Mary University of London, UK.

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google Scholar

  5. Doug Weir

    1. Doug Weir is research and policy director at the Conflict and Environment Observatory, Hebden Bridge, UK, and a visiting research fellow in the Department of Geography, King’s College London, UK.

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google Scholar

  6. Kirsti Ashworth

    1. Kirsti Ashworth is a Dorothy Hodgkin research fellow at the Royal Society, London, UK.

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google Scholar

  7. Reuben Larbi

    1. Reuben Larbi is a research associate at the Lancaster Environment Centre, Lancaster University, UK.

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google Scholar

  8. Oliver Heidrich

    1. Oliver Heidrich is a senior lecturer in the School of Engineering, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK, and a senior lecturer at the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK.

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google Scholar

The world’s militaries are heavy emitters of greenhouse gases. No one knows exactly how much; estimates range between 1% and 5% of global emissions, comparable with the aviation and shipping industries (2% each). Yet militaries are largely spared from emissions reporting. This must change, or mitigation measures risk becoming mere guesswork1.

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Nature 611, 29-32 (2022)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-03444-7

References

  1. Luers, A. et al. Nature 607, 653–656 (2022).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Crawford, N. C. Pentagon Fuel Use, Climate Change, and the Costs of War (Watson Institute, Brown University, 2019).

    Google Scholar 

  3. Belcher, O., Bigger, P., Neimark, B. & Kennelly, C. Trans. Inst. Br. Geogr. 45, 65–80 (2020).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. UK MOD. Annual Report and Accounts 2019–20 (UK Ministry of Defence, 2020).

    Google Scholar 

  5. Lin, H.-C. & Burton, D. Indefensible: The True Cost of the Global Military to our Climate and Human Security (Tipping Point North South, 2020).

    Google Scholar 

  6. Parkinson, S. & Cottrell, L. Under the Radar: The Carbon Footprint of Europe’s Military Sectors (European United Left, the Conflict and Environmental Observatory and Scientists for Global Responsibility, 2021).

    Google Scholar 

  7. Shea, J. Nato and Climate Change: Better Late Than Never (German Marshall Fund of the United States, 2022).

    Google Scholar 

  8. CEOBS. A Framework for Military Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reporting (Conflict and Environment Observatory, 2022).

    Google Scholar 

  9. Melin, H. E. et al. Science 373, 384–387 (2021).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  10. Kallbekken, S. & Victor, D. G. Nature 609, 673–675 (2022).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Supplementary Information

  1. Supplementary table and figures

Competing Interests

O.H. and his team are in part funded by the UK’s Ministry of Defence and its Defence Innovation Fund Top-Level Budget Ideas Scheme: The ViTAL Living Lab. The views expressed here are the authors’ own; no funders had input.

Subjects

Latest on:

Nature Careers

Jobs

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing

Search

Advanced search

Quick links