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Category Archives: Military and the environment

May222025

A composite of four images showing fibre optic cable waste on the battlefield. 1. Close up of the cable wrapped round someone's hand, it is about the same thickness and translucency as nylon fishing line. 2. A close up of the wheels of a grey 4x4 vehicle in long grass, a large quantity of cable is wrapped around its wheels and axles. 3. A new arable crop of young wheat plants taken when the sun is low, you can see the cable picked out by the light lying across the top of the crop. 4. The tops of small leafless trees against a grey sky, large quantities of cable are hanging from the branches - a note observes that this appears to be of greater thickness.

Plastic pollution from fibre optic drones may threaten wildlife for years

Blog, Country, Military and the environment, Slider, Topic, UkraineBy ConEnvObsMay 22, 2025

Russia’s war in Ukraine has encouraged a rapid increase in the deployment of drones that use fibre optic cables to protect them from being jammed or downed by electronic warfare: the drones trail kilometres of plastic cable across frontlines – what are the environmental risks of this tech?

May132025

A crowd of UN Peacekeepers is visible in the foreground, wearing camouflage uniform and their distinctive blue helmets emblazoned with a white "UN". In the background brown arid desert. Around 40 troops are visible.

The importance of tackling the climate impacts of UN Peacekeeping

Blog, Military and the environment, Military emissions blogs, Projects, Slider, TopicBy ConEnvObsMay 13, 2025

To mark this week’s UN Peacekeeping Ministerial in Berlin, Ellie Kinney explains its potential role in improving transparency over the reporting of military GHG emissions and shares recommendations that would help encourage decarbonisation.

Mar252025

A photo from ground level looks up at soldiers carrying the EU flag in a parade, the flag is lit up by the blue sky and sunny weather above.

Military climate action has never been more urgent, here’s why

Blog, Blog, Military and the environment, Military emissions blogs, Projects, Slider, TopicBy ConEnvObsMarch 25, 2025

Ellie Kinney explores why ramping up military spending while military decarbonisation is in its infancy risks locking in carbon-intensive military equipment for decades, why spiralling military spending is placing climate action and our collective security at risk, and what needs to happen next.

Feb172025

This night firing image shows the dark silhouette of the self-propelled artillery in a wooded area. The trees and part so the vehicle are lit up from the flash of the gun muzzle, clouds of gas are coming from each side of the gun and are illuminated white and orange.

PFAS ‘forever chemicals’ are in munitions, and other military applications too

Blog, Military and the environment, Slider, TopicBy ConEnvObsFebruary 17, 2025

Pressure to ban PFAS ‘forever chemicals’ over their toxicity and environmental persistence is growing but their military applications beyond firefighting foams have received limited attention. Linsey Cottrell explores their broader military uses, and why regulators shouldn’t let militaries keep using them.

Feb192024

A soldier looks out of a helicopter above the Hurrican Katrina floods, which have engulfed residential areas of New Orleans.

Ticking boxes: are military climate mitigation strategies fit for purpose?

Blog, Blog, Military and the environment, Military emissions blogs, Projects, SliderBy ConEnvObsFebruary 19, 2024

Militaries are increasingly publishing climate mitigation strategies, so we’ve developed checklists to evaluate them. In this post Linsey Cottrell introduces the checklists, and also compares military decarbonisation with another challenging sector: healthcare.

Nov22023

Name cards from the participants for session one of the conference showing the diverse backgrounds of the speakers - academia, civil society and the military.

Lessons from the first Military Emissions Gap Conference

Blog, Blog, Military and the environment, Military emissions blogs, Projects, SliderBy ConEnvObsNovember 2, 2023

CEOBS’ Military Emissions Campaigner Ellie Kinney reflects on the first Military Emissions Gap conference, which brought together academia, civil society and military representatives to discuss military and conflict greenhouse gas emissions.

Jan242023

Have EU military “greening” policies had any effect?

Blog, Military and the environment, Military emissions blogs, Projects, Slider, TopicBy ConEnvObsJanuary 24, 2023

In this blog, Linsey Cottrell summarises the key findings from our report into the state of “greening” policies across EU militaries.

Dec152022

The COP where we began talking about conflict emissions

Blog, Blog, Military and the environment, Military emissions blogs, Projects, Slider, TopicBy ConEnvObsDecember 15, 2022

Ellie Kinney landed at COP27 in Sharm el-Sheikh on a mission to advocate for better reporting of military greenhouse gas emissions, here’s what she found.

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