The Army announced on Tuesday quantifiable goals for making its bases, vehicles and training exercises greener in the face of climate change, and congressional reaction fell sharply along party lines.
The “United States Army Climate Strategy” sets objectives such as 100 percent carbon-free energy by 2030 on all of the service’s 130 installations around the world. It envisions deployment by 2050 of all-electric tactical vehicles, such as trucks. What’s more, the strategy document says, all Army training exercises and simulations “must consider climate change risks and threats by 2028.”
The strategy manifests a reversal, under President Joe Biden, of the federal approach to climate change, something former President Donald Trump openly questioned. The divide between the parties on the Defense Department’s spending on climate-related initiatives will grow more intense in a few weeks, once a new National Defense Strategy and a fiscal 2023 budget request become public. Both documents are expected to reflect stronger focus on the issue than usual.
