Highlights
- NATO announced “to contribute to the goal of Net Zero emissions by 2050
- Millitary industry accounts for 5 per cent of all emmisions: Study
- In 2020, global military expenditure reached nearly USD 2 trillion
London: Climate change leadership requires more than stirring speeches. It means facing up to hard truths. One truth that governments around the world are struggling with is the immense contribution their militaries are making to the climate crisis. For example, the US Department of Defense is the largest institutional consumer of fossil fuels in the world – and the largest institutional emitter. Two of us worked on a 2019 study that showed that if the US military were a country, its fuel usage alone would make it the 47th largest emitter of greenhouse gases in the world, sitting between Peru and Portugal.
In other words, the US military is a more consequential climate actor than many of the industrialised countries gathered at the COP26 summit in Glasgow. Despite the outsized role of militaries, we know surprisingly little about their emissions. This is remarkable given their reach and fossil fuel dependency. Some scientists estimate that, together, militaries and their supporting industries might account for up to 5 per cent of global emissions: more than civilian aviation and shipping combined. One reason we know so little is due to militaries being one of the last highly polluting industries whose emissions do not need to be reported to the United Nations. The US can take the credit for that.
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In 1997, its negotiating team won a blanket military exemption under the Kyoto climate accord. Speaking in the Senate the following year, the now special presidential envoy for climate, John Kerry, hailed it as “a terrific job”. At present, 46 countries and the European Union are obliged to submit yearly reports on their national emissions under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The 2015 Paris Agreement removed Kyoto’s military exemption but left military emissions reporting voluntary. Our research into this military emissions gap has for the first time shed light on the dire state of global military emissions reporting. Under-reporting is the norm, as is data that is inaccessible, or aggregated with non-military sources.
For example, Canada reports its emissions under multiple IPCC categories, reporting military flights under general transport, and energy for bases under commerical/institutional emissions. Military emissions reporting by the many countries that do not have to report annually to the UNFCCC is even worse. This includes countries with massive military budgets, such as China, India, Saudi Arabia and Israel. That “terrific job” in 1997 has unfortunately cast a long shadow. In 2020, global military expenditure reached nearly USD 2 trillion, and the international community remains largely oblivious to the carbon cost of these dollars, irrespective of where they are spent. This vast military imprint on the Earth’s atmosphere is not on the formal agenda of COP26.
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However, hopes are that it will be for COP27 next year, as countries begin to wake up to their huge military carbon bootprint. In June, the military alliance NATO announced that it would set concrete targets for it “to contribute to the goal of Net Zero emissions by 2050”. Meanwhile, countries like Switzerland and the UK, which have passed domestic legislation setting net zero targets, are finally having to face up to the uncomfortable truth that their defence ministries are the largest institutional emitters within government. While military emissions are gaining attention, the culture of military environmental exceptionalism that birthed it will continue to drive the long war that militaries have been quietly waging on the climate. For all their spending power and political influence, militaries are behind the curve on sustainability.
This was clear from NATO’s additional 2021 pledge to develop a carbon counting methodology for its members to use – an area where militaries are lagging behind other major sectors. Which emissions should militaries count? Should such accounting exercises focus exclusively on fuel use and energy consumption? Or should the operation of the massive, global supply chains – like those run by the US government’s Defense Logistics Agency – also be included?
Emissions from supply chains can be 5.5 times higher than an organisation’s own operational emissions. And what about overseas operations, whether overt or covert, or the wider climatic costs of war and peace, such as landscape degradation, deforestation or rebuilding? Western governments, including institutions like NATO, are busy positioning themselves as leaders on the security implications of the climate crisis. Their credibility on climate security, and on climate action more broadly, will be contingent on their willingness to first face up to some difficult truths about their own contribution to climate change. It will also require far more openness and transparency. Both will be vital for delivering real change, rather than more weapons-grade greenwash. There should be no illusions as to the scale of the challenge governments face. War is a dirty business. Militaries are institutionally complex, and procurement cycles last decades, which can “lock in” emissions. Things will not change overnight, but what they do not count, we can’t see. And what we cannot see, they will not cut.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
NDTV – Dettol have been working towards a clean and healthy India since 2014 via Banega Swachh India initiative, which is helmed by Campaign Ambassador Amitabh Bachchan. The campaign aims to highlight the inter-dependency of humans and the environment, and of humans on one another with the focus on One Health, One Planet, One Future – Leaving No One Behind. It stresses on the need to take care of, and consider, everyone’s health in India – especially vulnerable communities – the LGBTQ population, indigenous people, India’s different tribes, ethnic and linguistic minorities, people with disabilities, migrants, geographically remote populations, gender and sexual minorities. In wake of the current COVID-19 pandemic, the need for WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) is reaffirmed as handwashing is one of the ways to prevent Coronavirus infection and other diseases. The campaign will continue to raise awareness on the same along with focussing on the importance of nutrition and healthcare for women and children, fight malnutrition, mental wellbeing, self care, science and health, adolescent health & gender awareness. Along with the health of people, the campaign has realised the need to also take care of the health of the eco-system. Our environment is fragile due to human activity, that is not only over-exploiting available resources, but also generating immense pollution as a result of using and extracting those resources. The imbalance has also led to immense biodiversity loss that has caused one of the biggest threats to human survival – climate change. It has now been described as a “code red for humanity.” The campaign will continue to cover issues like air pollution, waste management, plastic ban, manual scavenging and sanitation workers and menstrual hygiene. Banega Swasth India will also be taking forward the dream of Swasth Bharat, the campaign feels that only a Swachh or clean India where toilets are used and open defecation free (ODF) status achieved as part of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2014, can eradicate diseases like diahorrea and the country can become a Swasth or healthy India.
World
25,18,98,205Cases
21,30,04,611Active
3,38,14,080Recovered
50,79,514Deaths
Coronavirus has spread to 196 countries. The total confirmed cases worldwide are 25,18,98,205 and 50,79,514 have died; 21,30,04,611 are active cases and 3,38,14,080 have recovered as on November 12, 2021 at 3:42 am.
India
3,44,14,186 12,516Cases
1,37,4161,140Active
3,38,14,080 13,155Recovered
4,62,690 501Deaths
In India, there are 3,44,14,186 confirmed cases including 4,62,690 deaths. The number of active cases is 1,37,416 and 3,38,14,080 have recovered as on November 12, 2021 at 2:30 am.
State Details
State |
Cases |
Active |
Recovered |
Deaths |
---|---|---|---|---|
Maharashtra |
66,21,420 997 |
15,997 47 |
64,64,948 1,016 |
1,40,475 28 |
Kerala |
50,42,082 7,224 |
70,251 833 |
49,36,791 7,638 |
35,040 419 |
Karnataka |
29,91,142 286 |
8,046 10 |
29,44,958 289 |
38,138 7 |
Tamil Nadu |
27,12,404 820 |
10,013 146 |
26,66,140 962 |
36,251 4 |
Andhra Pradesh |
20,69,352 286 |
3,196 24 |
20,51,747 307 |
14,409 3 |
Uttar Pradesh |
17,10,243 7 |
92 0 |
16,87,247 7 |
22,904 |
West Bengal |
16,01,586 854 |
7,973 28 |
15,74,333 813 |
19,280 13 |
Delhi |
14,40,270 40 |
367 21 |
14,14,812 61 |
25,091 |
Odisha |
10,44,699 271 |
2,677 39 |
10,33,652 308 |
8,370 2 |
Chhattisgarh |
10,06,271 26 |
216 7 |
9,92,468 33 |
13,587 |
Rajasthan |
9,54,475 4 |
46 2 |
9,45,475 2 |
8,954 |
Gujarat |
8,26,866 40 |
234 19 |
8,16,542 21 |
10,090 |
Madhya Pradesh |
7,92,936 12 |
76 5 |
7,82,336 17 |
10,524 |
Haryana |
7,71,388 20 |
130 12 |
7,61,208 8 |
10,050 |
Bihar |
7,26,148 4 |
35 2 |
7,16,452 6 |
9,661 |
Telangana |
6,73,140 153 |
3,737 9 |
6,65,432 160 |
3,971 2 |
Assam |
6,13,312 251 |
3,261 18 |
6,04,009 262 |
6,042 7 |
Punjab |
6,02,695 48 |
266 24 |
5,85,859 21 |
16,570 3 |
Jharkhand |
3,48,960 12 |
149 1 |
3,43,673 13 |
5,138 |
Uttarakhand |
3,43,987 13 |
146 4 |
3,36,438 8 |
7,403 1 |
Jammu And Kashmir |
3,33,667 177 |
1,311 81 |
3,27,908 96 |
4,448 |
Himachal Pradesh |
2,25,464 145 |
1,128 33 |
2,20,536 168 |
3,800 10 |
Goa |
1,78,422 23 |
298 4 |
1,74,753 19 |
3,371 |
Puducherry |
1,28,332 30 |
260 12 |
1,26,209 42 |
1,863 |
Mizoram |
1,27,548 631 |
5,838 101 |
1,21,254 732 |
456 |
Manipur |
1,24,328 78 |
761 37 |
1,21,626 40 |
1,941 1 |
Tripura |
84,644 9 |
133 1 |
83,695 10 |
816 |
Meghalaya |
83,962 20 |
273 45 |
82,227 64 |
1,462 1 |
Chandigarh |
65,376 3 |
23 1 |
64,533 2 |
820 |
Arunachal Pradesh |
55,208 6 |
44 3 |
54,884 9 |
280 |
Sikkim |
32,080 6 |
126 2 |
31,554 4 |
400 |
Nagaland |
31,966 6 |
172 0 |
31,102 6 |
692 |
Ladakh |
21,098 11 |
130 1 |
20,759 10 |
209 |
Dadra And Nagar Haveli |
10,682 |
0 0 |
10,678 |
4 |
Lakshadweep |
10,365 |
0 0 |
10,314 |
51 |
Andaman And Nicobar Islands |
7,668 3 |
11 2 |
7,528 1 |
129 |