Renewables on bases could boost UK’s military resilience

Accelerating the roll out of low carbon generation on military bases would boost UK resilience in the event that the country came under attack, the House of Commons defence committee has said.

The committee’s new report Defence and Climate Change says the Ministry of Defence (MoD) can do much more to measure and reduce its emissions without eroding military capability.

It describes the MoD’s decarbonisation targets as “insufficiently demanding”, adding that they are among the least demanding in Whitehall for reducing emissions.

The report says the MoD, which produces half of all central government’s carbon emissions, already has a target to achieve net zero emissions across its estate by 2030.

However the ministry should set out the balance of investment that would be required to step up progress on this goal, the report says: “Although this will require additional initial capital outlay, it should reduce whole-life costs and carbon emissions and increase defence’s energy resilience and self-sufficiency.

“One lesson from the conflict in Ukraine is that national infrastructure, such as communications and transportation nodes, government buildings and energy facilities, are vulnerable to physical and/or cyber-attack.

“Fitting more low-carbon energy generating capacity across the estate would also provide defence with greater resilience in case of future energy shocks and potentially allow it to sell excess energy back to the wider electricity grid.”

And the report says upgrading the energy efficiency of the defence estate could assist the retention of servicemen and women by improving currently low satisfaction levels with the quality of armed services accommodation.

It adds: “Accelerating the fitting of better insulation and low-carbon measures to the built estate would require greater up-front investment but should reduce whole-life costs and help reduce defence’s carbon emissions.”

The report says that the MoD is in line to hit its Greening Government Commitments target to reduce emissions from its estate by 30% by 2025, having already achieved a 29% reduction.

However this 30% target is “insufficiently demanding” given that it can be met entirely on the back of the wider decarbonisation of the National Grid.

The report adds: “These are hardly stretching if they can be met without any effort, especially for a department that produces half of all central government emissions.

“For the next round of Greening Government Commitments from 2025– 2030, defence should ensure its targets are more demanding and accompanied by plans to achieve them.”

And it says that while the RAF has set out milestones for a net zero airbase by 2025 and estate by 2030, it has not fleshed out plans for how these will be achieved.

Tobias Ellwood MP, chair of the defence committee, said: “The MoD is responsible for half of all central government’s emissions and will need to play an essential role in meeting the government’s target of becoming net zero by 2050.

“Maintaining the UK’s military capabilities must be given primacy and cannot be subject to compromise. However, the MoD must not hide behind maintaining capabilities as an excuse to avoid making progress elsewhere. In particular, the scope for improving the defence estate is huge – but this may require investment.

“The MoD should also ensure that its targets are sufficiently demanding. A target that can be reached by the decarbonisation of the National Grid alone is simply not ambitious enough for the challenge we face. Sitting back and doing nothing cannot be a valid option for such a high-emitting area of government.

“It is vital for the MoD to march as one, with coordination across the services and teams. This is one of the many reasons why we recommend the MoD create a dedicated climate change director, who is able to give full focus to this critical task.”