Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that it is the duty of the Department of Defense to reduce the overall environmental impact of all military activities and missions, and for other purposes.

Whereas, in January 2021, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin stated the Department of Defense will immediately take appropriate policy actions to prioritize climate change considerations in our activities and risk assessments, to mitigate this driver of insecurity Whereas Secretary Austin further stated, [B]y changing how we approach our own carbon footprint, the Department can also be a platform for positive change, spurring the development of climate-friendly technologies at scale. … It is a national security issue, and we must treat it as such. Whereas the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report entitled Climate Change 2021 Whereas the October 2018 report entitled Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5° C (1) global warming at or above 2 degrees Celsius beyond pre-industrialized levels will cause— (A) an increase in the number of people both exposed to climate-related risks and susceptible to poverty by up to several hundred million by 2050; (B) the potential for losses in some sectors of the United States that could reach hundreds of billions of dollars per year by the end of this century; (C) more than 350,000,000 more people globally to be exposed to deadly heat stress by 2050; and (D) a risk of damage to $1,000,000,000,000 worth of public infrastructure and coastal real estate in the United States; and (2) to keep global temperatures below 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrialized levels, which is necessary to avoid the most severe impacts of a changing climate, requires— (A) the global reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from human sources by 45 percent from 2010 levels by 2030; and (B) net-zero global emissions by 2050; Whereas the Department of Defense does not publicly or regularly report its overall fuel consumption or greenhouse gas emissions and there is no official publicly available Department of Defense source for all military greenhouse gas emissions; Whereas current estimates of the overall greenhouse gas emissions of the United States Armed Forces rely on publicly available emissions data from the Department of Energy; Whereas the Department of Defense does not release petroleum fuel consumption data, and most United States Government accounting of United States greenhouse gas emissions omit figures on how much the Armed Forces and the defense industry contributes to United States emissions beyond domestic facilities and installations; Whereas Under Secretary of State Stuart Eizenstat testified in 1997, At Kyoto, the parties … took a decision to exempt key overseas military activities from any emissions targets Whereas the United States Armed Forces emit more carbon dioxide than over 120 separate countries and would rank 47th out of 170 if measured as a separate country; Whereas the Department of Energy reports that the Department of Defense produced an average of about 66,000,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent per year during the period of 2010 to 2018, roughly the same greenhouse gas emissions as 14,000,000 passenger cars driven for one year, or roughly equivalent to the greenhouse gas emissions of the residential sector of the United States; Whereas emissions from United States industries producing defense materiel averaged 153,000,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide each year during the period of 2001 to 2017; Whereas Vice President Kamala Harris stated, One country’s carbon emissions can threaten the sustainability of the whole Earth Whereas NATO’s June 14, 2021, communique states it will develop a mapping methodology to help Allies measure greenhouse gas emissions from military activities and installations, which could contribute to formulating voluntary goals to reduce such emissions Whereas section 328 of the William M. (Mac) Thornberry National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021 ( Public Law 116–283 Whereas the House of Representatives recognizes that as one country’s carbon emissions can threaten the sustainability of the whole earth That it is the sense of the House of Representatives that— (1) it is the duty of the Department of Defense— (A) to reduce the overall environmental impact of all military activities and missions; (B) to monitor, track, and report greenhouse gas emissions from all of its operations, including combat operations, deployments, drone attacks, weapons production and testing, and base construction and functions; (C) to set clear annual greenhouse gas emission reduction targets for both domestic and foreign activities that are consistent with the 1.5 degrees Celsius target specified by the 2015 Paris Agreement; (D) to commit to annual greenhouse gas emission reporting mechanisms that are robust, comparable, and transparent, are based on recognized greenhouse gas monitoring protocols, and that are independently verified and include emissions from domestic and overseas United States military bases, from Department of Defense contractors, and from the manufacture and transport of military equipment and weapons; (E) to define clear greenhouse gas reduction targets for its military technology contractors and to report their full greenhouse gas emissions; (F) to prioritize greenhouse gas reduction initiatives at the source and only utilize ver­i­fi­able offsets of greenhouse gas emissions; (G) to publish greenhouse gas reduction policies, strategies, and action plans, with annual followup reporting on performance from all its operations; (H) to evaluate how reducing military expenditure and deployments and altering military postures can reduce emissions; and (I) to demonstrate leadership, openness, and a willingness to collaborate and exchange information on good practices with nonmilitary stakeholders; and (2) the Department of Defense should— (A) repurpose and manage its properties to promote carbon sequestration and biodiversity; (B) commit to increase climate and environmental training for decision makers, including with respect to how the Department can mitigate climate change and environmental degradation; (C) incorporate climate and environmental assessments in decision making for all procurement, activities, and missions; and (D) commit to allocating the appropriate resources to ensure all climate and environmental protection policies can be fully implemented.

Summary: This resolution expresses the sense of the House of Representatives that it is the duty of the Department of Defense (DOD) to reduce the overall environmental impact of military activities and missions and to monitor and report greenhouse gas emissions from all of its operations. The resolution also suggests that DOD take other environmentally conscious actions, including committing to annual greenhouse gas emission reporting mechanisms and repurposing and managing its properties to promote carbon sequestration and biodiversity.