As a listener of The Break Down, you are likely familiar with the global target of "net zero emissions" by 2050 enshrined in the Paris Agreement. You are likely also familiar with how far off track we are from meeting it. As it turns out, we're even more off track than these topline figures suggest, because global militaries are excluded from governments' tallies of their emissions, despite being some of the world’s foremost consumers of fossil fuels. How did this come to be, and why? And crucially, what does it tell us about global priorities when it comes to the climate crisis?
Answering these questions and many others on today's episode is Khem Rogaly, Senior Researcher at Common Wealth, our partners in this podcast. In this episode, we break down the convoluted, often hidden, but vitally important relationship between militarism and the climate crisis, from militaries’ contributions to climate and environmental damage, to their long-standing role in upholding the fossil fuel economy, to the way governments prioritise military spending over other urgent tasks — not least addressing a climate crisis that makes us all more insecure.
Further Reading
Khem Rogaly et al., "Less War, Less Warming: A Reparative Approach to US and UK Military Ecological Damages", Common Wealth & Climate + Community Project.
Khem Rogaly, "Welfare to Arms: Shareholder Payouts in the Arms Industry Since 2010", Common Wealth.
Neta Crawford, "Pentagon Fuel Use, Climate Change and the Costs of War", Watson Institute, Brown University.
Rachel Havrelock, "Pipelines in the Sand: The Middle East After Sykes-Picot", Foreign Affairs.
