US military is a bigger polluter than as many as 140 countries
The US military's carbon bootprint is enormous. Like corporate supply chains, it relies upon an extensive global network of container ships, trucks and cargo planes to supply its operations with everything from bombs to humanitarian aid and hydrocarbon fuels. Our new study calculated the contribution of this vast infrastructure to climate change.
Greenhouse gas emission accounting usually focuses on how much energy and fuel civilians use. But recent work, including our own, shows that the US military is one of the largest polluters in history, consuming more liquid fuels and emitting more climate-changing gases than most medium-sized countries. 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 2017, the US military bought about 269,230 barrels of oil a day and emitted more than 25,000 kilotonnes of carbon dioxide by burning those fuels. The US Air Force purchased US$4.9 billion worth of fuel, and the navy US$2.8 billion, followed by the army at US$947m and the Marines at US$36m.
It's no coincidence that US military emissions tend to be overlooked in climate change studies. It's very difficult to get consistent data from the Pentagon and across US government departments. In fact, the United States insisted on an exemption for reporting military emissions in the 1997 Kyoto Protocol. This loophole was closed by the Paris Accord, but with the Trump administration due to withdraw from the accord in 2020, this gap will will return.
Our study is based on data retrieved from multiple Freedom of Information Act requests to the US Defense Logistics Agency, the massive bureaucratic agency tasked with managing the US military's supply chains, including its hydrocarbon fuel purchases and distribution.
(Score: 1) by hwertz on Wednesday June 26 2019, @04:34PM (1 child)
Unsurprising... the military uses heavy vehicles (Humvees and such.) They really don't worry about operational efficiency -- i.e. they will not necessarily place supplies nearby, they can just ask for more money to transport them across the globe. They got themselves exempt from all EPA requirements, both mileage and emissions.... probably just as well in the "malaise era" (mid 1970s through late 1980s) when "smog controls" were just haphazardly slapped on, killing engine performance and driveability (around 1980 was the worst of it, some cars would randomly stall straight from the factory.) But it means now, in 2019, they are still producing vehicles using 1950s technology; they could probably double their gas mileage and cut emissions in half (AND improve reliability!) by applying more modern engine technology (without having to physically change the vehicles...)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 28 2019, @09:19AM
I don't buy that, the more efficient the vehicle, the less you have to worry about supply lines
it might not be a prime priority, but it should factor in the decision making somewhere