Europe’s Defence Buildup Could Blow a Hole in Climate Goals

From Climate Solutions News by RESET Media

July 21, 2025 · 23 min · Episode 12

About this episode

This episode discusses the impact of Europe's defense spending on climate goals with insights from Alexis Normand of Greenly.

As Europe ramps up defence spending, what’s the hidden cost to the climate? In this episode of the Climate Solutions News podcast, we speak with Alexis Normand, CEO of carbon accounting platform Greenly, about their new report Rearming Europe: Counting the Carbon Bootprint . The report reveals how NATO’s growing military budgets—and the EU’s €800 billion ReArm Europe initiative—could generate emissions rivaling the annual carbon footprint of the Netherlands, yet remain almost entirely unreported. Alexis explains why military emissions are such a major blind spot in climate policy, how Greenly calculated the scale of the problem, and what steps governments could take to decarbonise defence without compromising security. 🎧 A must-listen for anyone interested in the intersection of geopolitics, emissions accountability, and climate action. Keywords military emissions, carbon footprint, climate change, NATO, Greenly, emissions reporting, defense spending, EU Green Deal, decarbonization, climate policy Takeaways The military accounts for approximately 5.5% of global greenhouse gas emissions. NATO's emissions are projected to reach 256 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent in 2024…

People in this episode

Guest: Alexis Normand

Topics covered

defense spending
military emissions
climate policy
carbon footprint
NATO
EU Green Deal

Keywords

military emissions
carbon footprint
climate change
NATO
Greenly
emissions reporting
defense spending
EU Green Deal
decarbonization
climate policy

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Greenly, NATO, EU

Books & works: Rearmining Europe: Counting the Carbon Bootprint