来源：《新科学家》
原文见刊日期：2022年10月29日
本文适合2024考生
Since the first international climate summit, military emissions have been largely exempt from reporting and reduction targets. It is time this changed, says Neta Crawford, an international relations expert at the University of Oxford.
自第一届国际气候峰会以来，军事排放基本上被排除在报告和减排目标之外。牛津大学国际关系专家内塔•克劳福德表示，现在是改变这种状况的时候了。
In her new book, The Pentagon, Climate Change, and War: Charting the rise and fall of US military emissions, she puts numbers to the emissions produced by the US military. Using only publicly available sources, she finds that in 2019 the US military and its manufacturers were responsible for emissions equivalent to 105.7 million tonnes of carbon dioxide. The official number cited is about half that.
在她的新书《五角大楼、气候变化与战争：绘制美军排放量的涨跌图》中，她对美军产生的排放量进行了统计。仅使用公开来源，她发现2019年美国军方及其制造商的二氧化碳排放量相当于1.057亿吨。官方引用的数字约是这个数字的一半。
Crawford’s estimate includes fuel for jets, ships, tanks and electricity used in global bases. It also includes emissions from weapons manufacturing and its supply chains. Crawford omits trickier emissions, those generated by US operations resulting in burning buildings or bombed fossil fuel infrastructure, or rival powers aiming to match US military might.
克劳福德的估算包括喷气式飞机、舰艇、坦克使用的燃料和全球军事基地使用的电力。它还包括武器制造及其供应链的排放。克劳福德忽略了更难估算的排放，即美国军事行动造成的建筑物燃烧或化石燃料基础设施被炸毁所产生的排放，或旨在与美国军事实力相匹敌的竞争对手所产生的排放。
Even incomplete, the figures show that the US Department of Defense (DoD) is the largest single institutional emitter of greenhouse gases in the world, contributing more than the 45 lowest-emitting countries combined. “Military demand for fossil fuels has been and continues to be a key driver for the adoption of fossil fuels,” Crawford writes.
这些不完整的数据显示，美国国防部是世界上最大的单一温室气体排放机构，排放量超过45个最低排放国家的总和。克劳福德写道：“军事对化石燃料的需求一直是并将继续是使用化石燃料的关键推动力。”
Her steady narration traces the history of the US military through its increasing dependence on fossil fuels, and its efforts to secure them. The Navy’s transition in the 19th century from sail-powered ships to those powered by coal was the first major shift.
她以稳健的叙事追溯了美军对化石燃料日益增长的依赖，以及为确保其供应安全所做的努力。海军在19世纪从帆动力船向煤动力船的变革是第一个重大转变。
The US military used more coal than oil until just after the second world war, when petroleum became its lifeblood, powering ships, land vehicles and planes. As with coal, securing the military’s access to oil shaped US strategy, influencing the location of bases and driving measures to protect access to oil, especially in the Persian Gulf.
在第二次世界大战结束之前，美国军方使用的煤炭比石油更多，战后，石油成为美军的命脉，为舰艇、陆地车辆和飞机提供动力。与煤炭一样，确保军方获得石油的渠道决定了美国的战略，影响了军事基地的位置，并推动了保护石油渠道的措施，尤其是在波斯湾。
According to the DoD, US military emissions peaked during the Gulf war at around 110 million tonnes. The decrease since then is mostly due to energy efficiency, switching ships to natural gas and nuclear power, and closing bases.
根据国防部的数据，美军在海湾战争期间的碳排放量达到了1.1亿吨左右的峰值。从那以后，减少的主要原因是能源效率、船舶改用天然气和核能，以及关闭军事基地。
The great irony is that the DoD has been among the loudest voices in federal government on climate change, recognising threats such as bases flooding or the melting of Arctic ice making submarines easier to detect. It has also grasped that climate change may lead to conflict.
颇具讽刺意味的是，国防部一直是联邦政府中在气候变化问题上声音最大的部门之一，它认识到气候变暖造成的威胁，诸如基地洪水泛滥，或北极冰层融化会使潜艇更容易被发现等。国防部还认识到，气候变化可能导致冲突。
Because the DoD assumes the worst effects of climate change are inevitable, Crawford writes, it has backed adaptation over solving the problem.
克劳福德写道，因为国防部认为气候变化的最坏影响是不可避免的，所以它支持适应气候变化而不是解决气候变化问题。