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The accelerating global arms race is hindering climate action as critical minerals that are key to a sustainable future are being diverted to make the latest military hardware, according to a report
The study from the Transition Security Project – a joint US and UK venture – reveals how the Pentagon is stockpiling huge stores of critical minerals that are needed for a range of climate technologies including solar panels, wind turbines, electric vehicles and battery storage.
It found that since the US president, Donald Trump, passed his “one big beautiful bill” earlier this year, the Pentagon – through its National Defense Stockpile programme – has earmarked billions of dollars to secure a growing list of critical minerals for use in military hardware – from precision-guided weaponry and advanced communication systems to an emerging arsenal of military technologies such as “AI-driven autonomous warfare platforms”.
Khem Rogaly, co-director of Transition Security Project, said: “The Pentagon’s trillion dollar budget supports a global infrastructure designed for US military domination, not national security. Using precious resources to feed the expanding military industrial complex, rather than addressing the existential threat of the climate crisis, demonstrates the global insecurity produced by the Pentagon.”
Military spending has increased in large areas of the world in recent years after growing tensions between the US and China and the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The report warns this new arms race is halting attempts to tackle the climate crisis as countries scramble to secure critical minerals for the next generation of weapons.
The study found that at least 38 minerals and metals, including lithium, cobalt, graphite and rare earth elements that form the basis of the energy transition are being stockpiled by the Pentagon with potentially devastating effects on climate action.
It found the Pentagon’s Defense Logistics Agency plans to stockpile almost 7,500 metric tons of cobalt. The report calculates that could instead be used to produce 80.2 GWh of battery capacity – more than double existing energy storage capacity in the US and enough to produce approximately 100,000 electric buses.
Lorah Steichen, the report’s author, said: “Every ton of cobalt or graphite stockpiled for the military could be used instead for electric buses, large-scale energy storage or other renewable technologies needed for the energy transition. These materials should accelerate decarbonisation, not fuel the insatiable war machine.”
The US Department of Defense is the largest institutional emitter of planet-heating 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 the consequences of the climate crisis could hinder its activities, by flooding coastal bases or destabilising countries through the movement of people and extreme weather.
But under the Trump administration, such considerations have been jettisoned. In March, the US defence secretary, Pete Hegseth, wrote on X: “The @DeptofDefense does not do climate change crap. We do training and warfighting.”
The report outlines how that new direction is playing out. It shows how the Pentagon’s huge $1tn annual budget and its influence across the US state and economy allows it to “influence mineral supply chains … shape entire markets: absorbing risk, directing investments and creating demand signals that build strategic industrial capacity for military ends.”
It found that the Pentagon had funded, or signalled interest in supporting, at least 20 mining initiatives in the US and Canada worth almost $1bn since 2023, including taking direct equity stakes in “critical mineral” companies – an unprecedented step in modern US industrial policy.
The report states: “By capturing these materials to fuel the war machine, the Pentagon not only drains resources needed for urgent climate solutions but also perpetuates a destructive cycle of militarism that undermines global peace and sustainability while crowding out the civilian functions of the federal government.
“This misplaced prioritisation threatens both the planet’s future and the possibility of a just, collaborative energy transition that benefits all people rather than narrow military interests.”
The Pentagon did not respond to a request for comment.
