04.03.2024Are carbon emissions from wars and militaries finally getting attention? - Axel Michaelowa

Even in peace times, militaries are huge emitters of the greenhouse gasses that drive global warming. The US military with its global network of bases, has a particularly large carbon footprint - and outsources it to host countries who must account for it under their own reports to the United Nations.

Humanity is at war in two places currently - Ukraine and the Middle East - with several other low-level conflicts in different parts of the globe, and military expenditure on the rise.

Historical data shows that past wars produced staggering amounts of greenhouse gasses. The destruction of forests in Vietnam in the 1960s by the US’s use of the chemical herbicide Agent Orange is estimated to have generated emissions in the range of 300-400 million tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) - about seven to eight times the annual emissions of the country of Switzerland.

More in the article by The Straitstimes including an interview with Axel Michael