Military emissions

The United Nations’ Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) obliges some states to report on their greenhouse gas emissions every year. But, because reporting military emissions is voluntary, many governments have chosen not to. We call this lack of transparency the ‘military emissions gap’.

We know that militaries are significant emitters of greenhouse gas emissions, whether in peacetime or during operations. We also know that improving transparency over their emissions reporting is a key first step towards making the urgent cuts that are needed.

Working with researchers from Lancaster and Durham universities ‘Concrete Impacts’ project, we have created militaryemissions.org – a website dedicated to making the data that states report to the UNFCCC more transparent and accessible. The site was launched during COP26.

The website is part of a package of activities that CEOBS is working on around how militarism, conflicts and peace influence greenhouse gas emissions. With growing military engagement on the issue, it is vital that we scrutinise the pledges and claims being made, as well as articulate our expectations for how militaries should address their outsize impact on the environment.

For more information please contact Doug Weir (doug at ceobs.org) or Linsey Cottrell (linsey at ceobs.org).

Blogs

Sep72022

NATO emissions: Count them, cut them

Ellie Kinney explains why we have launched a new campaign ahead of COP27 urging NATO to come clean on its military emissions reporting.

Sep12022

Climate trackers: join us in shining the spotlight on militaries

Climate action tracking websites and reports play a vital role in driving the climate action of states and corporations but as Ellie Kinney writes, the leading climate tracking sites remain silent on military emissions.

Jun292022

NATO won’t say how it will count its carbon emissions

It looks like NATO has pledged to reduce its institutional emissions but won’t publish the methodology it will use to count them. Doug Weir argues that this lack of transparency underscores the importance of military emissions instead being addressed by the UNFCCC.

Jun222022

Tracking military greenhouse gas emissions in war and peace

What sources of greenhouse gas emissions should militaries be tracking and reporting on? Ellie Kinney introduces our new report, which examines military emissions in both peacetime and during conflicts.

Publications and events

Sep82022

Podcasts: Greening Defence

RUSI invited CEOBS to collaborate on a series of podcasts looking at the steps that the UK Ministry of Defence and the industries that support it are taking to address and reduce their environmental footprint.

Sep72022

Joint call | NATO: commit to credible climate action

NATO has pledged to cut its carbon emissions but is refusing to share how it will count them. Will your organisation join us in calling for NATO to make its methodology public, and for NATO member states to commit to military emissions reductions that are consistent with the Paris Agreement?

Jun222022

Report: A framework for military greenhouse gas emissions reporting

This paper examines the need for military greenhouse gas emissions reporting, its functions and components, and sets out an initial framework for the military sources that emissions reporting should cover, including those associated with armed conflicts.

Dec152021

Report: Environmental CSR reporting by the arms industry

In this report, Leonie Nimmo and Hana Manjusak examine the environmental Corporate Social Responsibility reporting of some of the world’s biggest arms companies, and discover that it may be far more useful than you might think.