US and UK militaries owe combined $111bn in climate reparations – study

(The Guardian, 6 Nov 2023) Exclusive: study finds militaries have generated about 430m metric tonnes of CO2 emissions since 2015 Paris accords.

The US and UK militaries owe at least $111bn in reparations to communities most harmed by their planet-heating pollution, a first-of-its-kind study calculates.

The research employs a “social cost of carbon” framework – a way to estimate the cost, in dollars, of the climate damage done by each additional tonne of carbon in the atmosphere.

“The environmental costs of maintaining the global military reach of the US and UK armed forces are astonishing,” said Patrick Bigger, research director of the Climate and Community Project and co-author of the report.

According to the report, which was published by the UK-based thinktank Common Wealth and the US-based Climate and Community Project, the two militaries have generated at least 430m metric tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent since the 2015 United Nations Paris climate agreement. That’s more than the total greenhouse gas emissions produced in the UK last year.

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The Guardian, 6 Nov 2023: US and UK militaries owe combined $111bn in climate reparations – study