Climate Reparations for Military Emissions
Transform Defense
(November 2025) — Militarism is synonymous with ecological destruction. The US$2.7 trillion annual global military spending spree could have significantly helped fund much-needed adaptation and mitigation finance to developing countries — especially to countries that have contributed the least to climate crisis but will suffer its worst impacts.
The top 20 military spenders alone, despite comprising a mere 10% of the number of countries in the world, account for more than 80% of the total global military spending. Their excessive and oversized annual military expenditures also ensure they are responsible for the majority of the fossil-fuel powered military emissions that have polluted the world for decades.
Key Findings
In this report, we estimate that the global top 20 military spenders alone are responsible for at least 10 billion metric tonnes of CO2 equivalent (tCO2e) of military-related emissions during the first quarter of the 21th century. This has accrued from the US$40 trillion spent on their militaries since 2001.
We estimate that collectively they owe the world, especially the poorest and the most climate vulnerable countries, US$2.67 trillion in reparation for their military-GHG-emission-related climate costs (as measured by the social cost of carbon). This is more than 8 times the new climate finance pledge of US$300 billion to developing countries set at Baku COP29.
On top of the historical climate cost incurred so far in this 21st century, the top military spenders continue to increase their annual military spending to record level year after year and hence stamp an ever bigger annual military carbon footprint on the world.
The climate cost of their 2024 annual military spending is US$163 billion, more than 50% larger than the average over the preceding years in this century (US$109 billion). This annual reparation (arising from the ongoing annual military expenditure), if paid, could have funded the 2009 climate finance pledge of US$100 billion (that never got truthfully fulfilled) year after year, with change to spare.
The top 20 global military spenders – with their associated arms industries – are major climate polluters. This report shows the league table of just how much these 20 countries spend, emit and as a result, owe in climate reparations ― especially to the most climate vulnerable countries.
There Is Money for Climate Finance
And it sits, in no small part, in the trillions spent on the big military budgets. This report illustrates the extent to which those countries must pay for the climate consequences of that expenditure, as a one-off retrospective reparation payment for historical military-related emissions, together with annual reparations for ongoing military emissions from present and future annual military expenditures.https://transformdefence.org/publication/climate-reparations-for-military-emissions/ – _ftnref1
We need our world to urgently move toward a state of peaceful prosperity. Ever-increasing military spending does not bring greater human safety; it has the opposite effect. All it does is guarantee ever-more military emissions.
We may have failed to stop the Earth breaching the 1.5 °C climate limit, but we cannot afford to give up on the next 2 °C climate limit.
While the whole of society is expected to take accountability and embark on full decarbonisation within this century, the military is getting an immoral and unacceptable free pass. Countries are not required to report their military emissions to the UN, using national security as the excuse. Military emissions are not included in the national emission reduction targets for Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).
Demanding climate reparations for military-emissions-related climate costs therefore serves three purposes:
Firstly, the ‘polluters pay’ imperative must include financial reparation for historic and ongoing military-related GHG emissions to be paid for by those states which are responsible − in this case the top 20 military spenders − with reparations being paid into a ‘Military-Emissions Climate Reparation Fund’ directed at the poorest and the most climate vulnerable countries least responsible for the climate crisis.
Secondly, it should shape debate about ways in which to rein in excessive and ever-increasing military spending. The substantial amount calculated in this report should provoke serious consideration of the damage done to the planet by the top military spenders and the enormous opportunity costs of the US$40 trillion spent on the big militaries in just 24 years. One proposal for universal cuts to annual military spending is TPNS’s 5% formula.
Thirdly, more broadly, it raises a serious question about the relevance and utility of 20th century fossil-fuel powered foreign and defence policy-making. Is this really what humanity needs at this existential, pivotal point in our history?
The recent UN report Rebalancing Military Spending for a Sustainable and Peaceful Future addresses this issue head on. We need a “shift towards a human-centered and multidimensional approach to security, one that prioritizes diplomacy, cooperation, sustainable development and disarmament over military build ups”.
Recommendations
• Global top 20 military spenders should be held accountable for the damages caused by their enormous accumulated military emissions of the first quarter of the 21st century and pay historic climate reparations of US$2.67 trillion into the international military-emissions climate reparation fund. This military-emissions climate reparation fund will be an additional funding source to much-needed climate finance for countries in the Global South on the frontline of the climate emergency caused by the most advanced, well-armed, economies.
- Top military spenders to pay annual climate reparation into an international military-emissions climate reparation fund to compensate for their ever-rising annual military spending. Top 20 military spenders on average collectively owe US$111 billion a year of SCC climate cost from their annual military-related emissions (over the last quarter of a century).
- All nations to compulsorily submit comprehensive military GHG emission reporting to IPCC/UNFCCC.
- All nations to include their militaries and military technology industries in their NDC GHG emission reduction plans and targets.
* The UNFCCC must explicitly recognise the climate and ecological dimension of war and occupation. In particular, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) AR7 Special Report on Cities should include a dedicated chapter on war- and conflict-related emissions, with attention to the wholesale destruction of cities and systems such as Gaza City and its surrounding lands.
- International institutions charged with adjudicating war crimes and reparations to ensure that military- and conflict-related emissions are incorporated into the reparation framework. Such work can build on the figures calculated here and in the companion paper on the case of Palestine.
- Top military spenders to reduce their annual military expenditures and divert the money saved to fund sustainable human safety needs. One way to do this is TPNS’s 5% Formula.
Related Report
Climate Collateral: Why the Military’s Impact on
Climate Change Can No Longer Be Ignored
