The global race for critical weapons minerals is a threat to the climate

The accelerating global arms race is hindering climate action as critical minerals key to a sustainable future are diverted to produce the latest military equipment, reports Guardian.

A new study by the Security in Transition Project, a joint US-UK initiative, reveals how the Pentagon is stockpiling vast stocks of critical minerals needed for a range of climate technologies, including solar panels, wind turbines, electric vehicles and batteries.

It found that since US President Donald Trump began his second term, the Pentagon, through its National Defense Stockpile Program, has allocated billions of dollars to secure a growing list of critical minerals for use in military equipment - ​​from precision-guided weapons and advanced communications systems to an emerging arsenal of military technologies such as "autonomous combat platforms controlled by artificial intelligence."

"The Pentagon's trillion-dollar budget supports a global infrastructure designed for U.S. military dominance, not national security. Using valuable resources to power a growing military-industrial complex instead of addressing the existential threat of the climate crisis"...demonstrates the global insecurity created by the US military machine," says Hem Rogali, co-director of the Security in Transition project.

Military spending has surged in large parts of the world in recent years amid rising tensions between the US and China and the war in Ukraine. The report warns that this new arms race is stalling efforts to tackle the climate crisis as countries struggle to secure critical minerals for the next generation of weapons.

The study reveals that at least 38 minerals and metals, including lithium, cobalt, graphite and other rare earth elements that form the basis of the energy transition, are being stockpiled by the Pentagon with potentially devastating consequences for climate action.

It also found that the Pentagon's Defense Logistics Agency plans to stockpile nearly 7500 metric tons of cobalt. The report estimates that this amount could be used to produce 80,2 GWh of battery capacity - more than double the existing energy storage capacity in the U.S. and enough to produce approximately 100,000 electric buses.

"Every ton of cobalt or graphite stockpiled for the military could instead be used for electric buses, large-scale energy storage, or other renewable technologies needed for the energy transition. These materials should accelerate decarbonization, not power the insatiable war machine," says Laura Steichen, author of the report.

The Pentagon has larger emissions than entire countries

The US Department of Defense is the largest institutional source of emissions in the world, responsible for about 80% of the US government's emissions and generating more pollution than entire individual countries.

Pentagon officials have long been concerned that the effects of the climate crisis could hamper its operations by flooding coastal bases or destabilizing countries through the movement of people and extreme weather.

But under the Trump administration, such considerations have been dismissed. In March, US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth wrote in X:

"The Department of Defense is not concerned with climate change. We are concerned with training and combat operations."

The report outlines how this new direction is unfolding. It shows how the Pentagon's massive $1 trillion annual budget and its influence over the U.S. economy allow it to influence mineral supply chains, shape entire markets, absorb risk, direct investment, and create demand signals that build strategic industrial capacity for military purposes.