World's Biggest Polluter? It's The US Military, Says Shocking Study

A new study has shown that the US military is the world's largest institutional emitter of greenhouse gases. Led by Ryan Thombs from Penn State University and published in PLOS Climate on July 2, the research highlights how the Department of Defense's global activities significantly impact climate change.

The emissions originate from various activities, including maintaining military bases, conducting training drills, engaging in research and development, and transporting personnel, equipment, and weapons worldwide. These operations require large amounts of energy, resulting in substantial carbon emissions.

Interestingly, military officials themselves acknowledge that climate change poses a threat to both national and global security. Earlier studies have also noted a link between a country's military expenditure and its national greenhouse gas emissions.

The authors of the new study contend that reducing US military spending could significantly cut energy use, potentially saving as much energy as some small nations consume.

As per a news release by Public Library of Science, few studies have analyzed associations between military spending and direct measurements of military energy consumption. To help fill that gap, Thombs and colleagues conducted a statistical analysis of publicly available data on US military expenditures and U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) energy consumption from 1975 to 2022.

The analysis showed that reductions in U.S. military spending are associated with decreased energy consumption. Decreased spending appears to have a bigger effect on saving energy than increased spending does on increasing energy consumption, with these effects due primarily to reductions in energy consumption from facilities, vehicles and equipment, and-in particular-jet fuel. The researchers note that this asymmetry suggests that modest U.S. military spending cuts could meaningfully reduce fossil-fuel consumption and contribute to climate-change mitigation.

The researchers also developed forecasts of the possible effects of different spending decisions on energy consumption from 2023 to 2032, exploring various sizes of spending increases or cuts. These forecasts suggest that, by 2032, sustained cuts could yield annual energy savings comparable to the annual energy usage of the US state of Delaware or the nation of Slovenia.

Researchers emphasize the need for further investigation into the relationship between military spending and energy consumption due to the implications for climate change and sustainability. 

"We show that sustained cuts to US military expenditures could result in annual energy savings on par with what the nation of Slovenia or the US state of Delaware consumes annually by 2032," the authors of the study said.