In the United States, the debate over the fiscal year 2025 funding bill has been dominated by cuts to the Pentagon’s efforts to combat climate change. The House and Senate budget committees have been conducting a detailed review of this year’s bill, with spending cuts proposed in a number of critical areas. The proposals target a wide range of funding investments, from the Pentagon’s efforts to combat climate change to technological advances such as hybrid electric vehicles.
President Trump's Policies on Climate Change
During President Donald Trump’s term, climate change efforts were clearly put on the back burner. In his first week in office, Trump decided to withdraw the US from the Paris Agreement and chose to limit efforts in the country to combat climate change. Trump’s administration froze funding for electric vehicles and environmentally friendly technologies in particular, hindering investment in these areas. This approach was also reflected in the Pentagon’s assessments of defense spending and technological developments.
Fiscal Year 2025 Budget Proposal and the Pentagon’s Climate Change Initiatives
The 181-page bill sent to the Pentagon includes lawmakers’ proposals for spending for fiscal year 2025. According to the detailed plan of the bill, which was reviewed by the House and Senate budget committees, the Pentagon’s climate change efforts stand out in its cuts. The bill proposes redirecting $377,35 million in the budget allocated to address climate change to other areas. This suggests that the current ruling bloc on Capitol Hill has not embraced the policies to combat climate change supported by the Biden administration.
Cuts in Research and Development
The bulk of the proposed budget cuts would be in the Pentagon’s research, development, test and evaluation divisions, with major cuts to projects directly linked to climate change, particularly in areas such as developing hybrid-electric vehicles and advancing environmentally friendly defense technologies.
Hybrid-electric vehicles have been tested, particularly in tactical vehicles for use by the military. However, with the cuts, much of the resources allocated for these vehicles will be diverted to other projects. Hybrid propulsion systems are described as a more efficient and environmentally friendly technology that could be useful for both military and commercial vehicles. However, investment in this area remains uncertain for the Pentagon.
The Future of Hybrid Electric Vehicles
The military has long explored the idea of making its vehicles electric or hybrid. However, while this technology is gaining traction in the commercial sector, it is not yet fully applicable to the military. The benefits of these vehicles on the modern battlefield, such as silent surveillance and quiet driving, provide the advantage of being less detected. However, the benefits of investing in vehicles with such features are not so clear in the short term.
The Pentagon has been aiming for more research into such technologies and hybrid-electric vehicles to benefit the defense sector. But lawmakers’ proposals could make it more difficult to implement those plans. The $100 million hybrid-electric vehicle prototype, in particular, could face significant disruption.
Funding Cuts for Next-Generation Combat Vehicles
The Defense Department says efforts to address climate change are starting to run counter to goals of developing technologies for modern warfighting. The Pentagon argues that these technologies will be critical to future battlefields, but lawmakers are taking steps to cut funding for such projects.
In particular, nearly $45 million in funding for next-generation combat vehicles has been one of the main budgets proposed by lawmakers for elimination, suggesting that the Pentagon’s efforts to combat climate change could also conflict with goals for modernizing defense technologies.
The Future of the Pentagon's Climate Strategy
The Pentagon has developed several strategies to combat climate change, but it remains unclear how effective these strategies are and how long they will last. Pentagon officials advocate investing in such projects to combat the increasing insecurity and instability around the world caused by climate change. However, the decline in financial support for such projects due to legislative decisions has called into question the future of the Pentagon’s climate strategies.
The fiscal year 2025 funding bill signals a period in which investments in climate-friendly technologies will be drastically cut as the Pentagon tries to find the balance between defense spending and combating climate change. These developments offer important clues about how U.S. defense policies, its approach to environmentally friendly technologies, and future defense investments will shape.
