By Mahmud Hussain*
DHAKA, Bangladesh | 12 March 2025 (IDN) — Militaries, which are among the biggest consumers of fuel, account for 5.5 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions.
If the world’s militaries were a country, they would have the fourth-highest carbon footprint China, the USA and India.
The US Air Force’s F-35 fighter jets emit as much CO2 as an average UK petrol cardoes in one year for every 100 nautical miles flown.
With 750 bases worldwide, the US military’s emissions are the largest, rivalling the entire annual output of smaller nations like Portugal and Denmark.
Although India is among the top three emitters of greenhouse gases, its emission index per military person is low.
While the G20 countries are jointly responsible for 80 per cent of global emissions, South Asia, with 25 per cent of the global population, is responsible for nine to 10 per cent, with India alone accounting for seven per cent. Bangladesh and Pakistan have been collectively responsible for less than 1.5 per cent.
Despite having the largest armed forces in the world, South Asia is responsible for marginal climate damages due to military operations.
However, South Asia is also at the worst end of the global warming spectrum. Unfortunately, the region receives the lowest funding for climate adaptation financing.
South Asia is in a unique position to claim its rightful reparation from the rich world for implementing UN-mandated Climate Action goals. Bangladesh, India and Pakistan, along with Afghanistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bhutan and the Maldives, need to begin a region-wide dialogue on climate adaptation and mitigation.
South Asian militaries can play an important role in dealing with climate change in the region. However, some underlying realities must be accepted by both the political and military leaders of the region.
First, they need to realise that climate security is not a zero-sum game like military security. A rise in temperatures due to CO2 emissions over Bangladesh will spill over into neighbouring India as well and vice versa. Therefore, climate security has to be seen as a “regional security threat” rather than a “security issue”.
Second, climate security permeates into other security areas. Migration caused by sea-level rise, for example, shows that the issue of climate security is structurally linked with political, social and economic security.
Compared to the global average, the Indian Ocean is warming faster than other seas. Between 10-50 million people may be threatened by rising sea levels in South Asia by 2100. South Asia, therefore, has no choice but to accept climate change as a regional existential threat.
Third, the militaries of South Asia have to learn to cooperate, as the need for climate security impels them to do so. It could prove fatal for South Asian countries to see climate change through the lens of an isolated national perspective.
Climate phenomena and concerns are so interlinked that the localised environmental insecurities of an individual nation cannot be reasonably analysed and resolved without considering others in the region.
Therefore, South Asian militaries that have a stake in climate change must include “Climate Science” in their academic curriculum.
South Asian militaries can follow NATO, which, as a regional military organisation, has announced its goal of being a net-zero organisation by 2050. The first thing the military planners should do is form a regional climate-security nexus as part of their national interest. This should include military organisations, the defence industry, the civil sector, and academia.
The cardinal principle for the mitigation and reduction of their carbon footprints by the South Asian militaries must be based on an understanding of their functional and geographic role. This must be accompanied by capacity building to deal with climate change as an existential threat. There needs to be recognition that this has to be done cooperatively.
South Asian militaries should learn from the climate impact of wars in the world.
In October 2023 alone, for example, the Israeli aerial bombardment of 25,000 tons of munitions on Gaza was equivalent to twice the explosive force of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima during World War II.
In its first three years, from 2022 to 2025, the Russo-Ukraine war pumped an estimated 230 million tons of CO2 into the atmosphere.
This is equal to the cumulative carbon emissions of five countries classified as Fragile and Conflict-Affected States (FCAS) on the International Rescue Committee’s (IRC) Emergency Watchlist: Haiti, Syria, Burkina Faso, Yemen and Somalia.
It’s no wonder that scientists and other climate experts have raised the alarm about the “military black hole” in global emission counting.
For years, the military’s role in assisting civil power in fighting climate-related disasters has proved necessary and vital in saving human lives and property. Climate change should be integrated into the military’s risk models if it is estimated as a risk multiplier.
It should become imperative for South Asian militaries to work in partnership to develop a comprehensive view of mitigation and adaptation programmes by adopting a regional climate security strategy.
Cyclone Bhola in then East Pakistan cost between 300,000 and 500,000 human lives. It is well known that the apathetic indifference to the climate catastrophe brought about the disintegration of Pakistan, and Bangladesh was born.
The Bhola tragedy has left a stark lesson that failing to respond effectively to climate change at the state level can adversely impact a region’s political security.
*Air Vice Marshal Mahmud Hussain retired from the Bangladesh Air Force. He is currently a Distinguished Expert and Professor at the Aviation and Aerospace University, Dhaka, Bangladesh. [IDN-InDepthNews]
Originally published under Creative Commons by 360info™.
Image: South Asian militaries must understand their role in dealing with climate change. : Defence Research and Development Organisation, India Government Open Data License – India (GODL)
