Today, Matt speaks with Doug Weir, Director at the Conflict and Environment Observatory (CEOBS), about the environmental toll of armed conflict - and why it rarely gets the attention it deserves. They cover CEOBS’s real-time tracking of 300+ environmental incidents from the Iran war, including the Tehran oil fires and threats to the Persian Gulf’s fragile marine ecosystems. Doug also explains how rising military budgets are quietly undermining global climate progress, why the “military emissions gap” is a major blind spot in international climate accounting, and what it would take to hold governments accountable for environmental destruction.
Learn more about CEOBS and their Iran war environmental monitoring at ceobs.org
Subscribe now on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get podcasts.
GUEST BIO
Doug Weir is the Research and Policy Director of the Conflict and Environment Observatory (CEOBS), a UK-based watchdog he co-founded in 2018 to monitor and document the environmental impacts of armed conflict. He has spent two decades tracking conflict pollution, military emissions, and the legal frameworks designed to protect the environment in war. CEOBS has published the most comprehensive environmental monitoring of the Iran war to date, identifying over 300 incidents of potential harm across 12 countries. Doug is also a Visiting Research Fellow at King’s College London.
EPISODE RESOURCES
- CEOBS website: https://ceobs.org
- Iran war environmental report: https://ceobs.org/operation-epic-fury-emerging-environmental-harm-and-risks-in-iran-and-the-region/
- Black Rain analysis: https://ceobs.org/black-rain-the-health-and-environmental-risks-from-tehrans-oil-fires/
- Matt Matern on LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/ACClinkedin
- A Climate Change on Apple: https://bit.ly/accapplepodcast
- A Climate Change on Spotify: https://bit.ly/accspotifypodcast
- A Climate Change on YouTube: https://bit.ly/ACCvids
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