US military bigger polluter than most countries

Surprised by the headline? No wonder when discussions about greenhouse gas emissions tend to focus on statistics for countries, not institutions. But research from our Department of Geography, in partnership with Lancaster University, found that the US military's carbon footprint is so big it out ranks that of most countries in the world. Colossal carbon 'boot print' The researchers looked at the carbon 'boot print' of the US Defence Logistics Agency-Energy (DLA-E), the primary buyer of fossil fuels for the US military. With a purchase power of this scale, they're a powerful actor on the global oil market. In 2017 the US military purchased over 269,000 barrels of oil a day. The US Air Force purchased over $4.9 billion worth of fuel that year, and the US Navy purchased $2.8 billion. The US military is the 47th largest emitter of greenhouse gases in the world, when looking at emissions from fuel use.
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