Before the recent climate talks in Paris, France, the U.S. military and other Armed Forces around the world were exempt from having to report their emissions. However, under the new climate deal, all militaries in the United Nations would no longer be exempt from emissions targets.
"If we're going to win on climate we have to make sure we are counting carbon completely, not exempting different things like military emissions because it is politically inconvenient to count them," Stephen Kretzmann, Oil Change International's director, told The Guardian. "The atmosphere certainly counts the carbon from the military, therefore we must as well."
When the climate agreement was reached on Dec. 12, the participating members of the treaty committed to noticeable emissions cuts by 2030. The U.S. military is currently the world's largest consumer of crude oil, according to Grist. Therefore, the American Armed Forces will have to make some serious changes to meet the new regulations.
Though many anticipated pushback from the Pentagon, the only response was a request for a Kyoto exemption on the grounds that a CO2 emissions report would pose a national security threat, as reported by The Guardian.