war generated 175 million tonnes of CO2 in 2022, report says

A study financed by the Swedish and German governments looks at “conflict carbon” and reveals that more than two years of war have largely contributed to accelerating global warming.

In Ukraine and, more broadly, in all areas where artillery fire, bombings and all the damage caused by war activity have the effect of accelerating global warming. This is the observation revealed by the work of a group of researchers, funded by the Swedish and German governments, by the European Foundation, on greenhouse gas emissions generated by the fighting between kyiv and Moscow. Emissions which would be higher than those produced by 175 countries in the world.

According to this report, the war in Ukraine polluted more in 2022 than nations like the Netherlands, Kuwait or Venezuela. The Russian invasion generated 175 million tonnes of CO₂ or equivalent gas. In their work, the experts took into account the destruction of forests, the disruption of air traffic, the damage and leaks caused by the bombing of sensitive infrastructure, such as power stations or coal-fired power stations. This war contributes to spreading “a carbon of conflict” which primarily harms, of course, Ukraine, but which also harms the entire planet.

This study is work that responds to a resolution passed by the United Nations in November 2022. The General Assembly considered that after the war, Russia should face climate reparations. It was therefore necessary to establish a precise and methodical ecological assessment. Each ton of greenhouse gas emissions is estimated at 170 euros. So, in total, over the first two years of war, the bill amounts to nearly 30 billion euros for Russia.

Financing could be done on the basis of Russian assets frozen since the start of the conflict, but that will not solve the main problem, which is the ecological damage caused by the war. For example, among all the polluting agents, researchers have identified Sulfur Hexafluoride (from SF₆), it is the most powerful of all the greenhouse gases that exist. War deeply pollutes the air, but also the soil.

The spokesperson for the International Committee of the Red Cross, Frédéric Joli, recently told a journalist from Arte TV that this lasting pollution was contrary to humanitarian law. “The idea of ​​humanitarian law is that we do not have the right to do anything when we are fighting. We do not have the right to pollute land with defoliants to make it unproductive for decades, to pollute wells and make water unfit for consumption or otherwise cause damage to the health of populations. he explains.

“It was the Vietnam War that made the international community aware of the impact of war on the environment and health.”

Frédéric Joli, ICRC spokesperson

on Arte

“The millions of liters of Agent Orange (a powerful herbicide) released by the American army still have harmful effects on the health of populations today.“, continues Frédéric Joli.

This is the first time that such a precise assessment has been produced, almost in real time. But military secrecy never reveals the entirety of the components of its weapons systems and if this report is certainly the most complete in revealing the impact of war on the environment, its inventory is probably below the devastation caused by this war.