The Guardian
Dharna Noor
06/13/2025
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Institute for Policy studies quantified the emissions that will result from the use of those vehicles, using data from the International Energy Agency and publicly available information. The researchers calculated emissions from not only the parade route itself, but also the transport of the vehicles to the event and the upstream impact of producing fuel for the parade
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Hanna Homestead, research analyst at the Institute for Policy Studies, noted the same kinds of vehicles deployed for the parade have also been used to transport napalm and other supplies to Vietnam, and are now being used by Israel in its siege on Gaza.
“So we’re spending money to glorify a gas-guzzling equipment used for war, genocide and planetary destruction,” she said, “at the same time as critical services for populations at home and around the world are being slashed.”
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Lindsay Koshgarian, program director at the Institute for Policy Studies, said that the parade’s emissions were “egregious” and the event itself was a “wake-up call” about Trump’s priorities.
“This parade comes alongside proposals for a $1tn Pentagon budget, along with massive cuts to healthcare, food programs, and an ideological attack on climate programs both in the Pentagon and across government,” she said. “The more we spend on sending these fuel-guzzling tanks and helicopters around the world, the less we have to protect our people, communities and the planet.”
The Institute for Policy Studies’ National Priorities Project, which focuses on budget analysis and which Koshgarian directs, found that the $45m it will cost to hold the military parade would be enough to fund programs Trump has put on the chopping block, such as the two offices enforcing endangered species protection or the development of an HIV vaccine in South Africa.
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