How the US became the biggest military emitter and stopped everyone finding out

Academic Neta Crawford warns that if Donald Trump follows through on his threats of war, emissions will soar and the planet will pay the price

• Carbon footprint of Israel's war on Gaza exceeds that of many entire countries

• Revealed: Nato rearmament could increase emissions by 200m tonnes a year

The climate impact of Donald Trump's geopolitical ambitions could deepen planetary catastrophe, triggering a global military buildup that accelerates greenhouse gas emissions, a leading expert has warned.

The Pentagon - the US armed forces and Department of Defense (DoD) agencies - is the world's largest institutional greenhouse gas emitter, accounting for at least 1% of total US emissions annually, according to analysis by Neta Crawford, co-founder of the Costs of War project at Brown University.