GLASGOW: The world’s armies must keep pace with global efforts to tackle climate change and cut their huge carbon footprints according to clearly defined benchmarks, Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Tuesday.

Little reliable data exists on emissions created by military activities but there is no doubt they are big: a 2019 report concluded the US military would be the world’s 47th largest emitter of greenhouse gases if it were a country.

“There is no way to reach net zero without also including emissions from the military,” Stoltenberg said in an interview at the COP26 climate conference, referring to the ambitions of many nations to hit net-zero emissions by mid-century.

Stoltenberg, a former UN special envoy on climate change, said work had already started within the alliance on a methodology to measure armed forces’ emissions and that his aspiration was that this should be completed by end-2022.

“That is aim but of course I am dependent on agreement among 30 allies,” he said.

Stoltenberg acknowledged the heavy existing footprint of the world’s armies but said there were already efforts to address it: for example, the

US military using solar panels in its installations, the British army exploring alternative fuels and Spain planting trees on military land to capture carbon.

“There is an energy revolution taking place out there in civil society ... and this is about keeping up the pace, being part of that transformation,” he said.

Published in Dawn, November 3rd, 2021