This study has been carried out to identify the relationship between military expenditures (MILEX), energy consumption (FOSSIL), financial development (FD) and environmental pollution (CAFP) for G7 countries. Panel data analysis was conducted using annual data for the 1971–2019 period. The results revealed that military expenditures, financial development and energy consumption are long-term determinants of environmental pollution. The study also found that FD had the greatest long-term impact on CAFP followed by FOSSIL and MILEX in that order, and that this impact was statistically significant and positive for FOSSIL and FD and negative for MILEX. A country-by-country evaluation showed that the country in which financial development and energy consumption have the greatest impact on the amount of carbon released into the environment is the USA, while the country in which the impact of military expenditures on the amount of carbon released into the environment is greatest in Germany.