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 the report, the conflict generated 175 million tonnes of CO2 in two years. For comparison, Switzerland emitted some 35 million in 2022. This figure also exceeds the annual emissions of a highly industrialized country like the Netherlands.
The report also details the origin of these 175 million tonnes of CO2. The result is that military activity itself is only responsible for about a third of the polluting emissions attributable to the conflict. The rest is linked to more or less direct effects, such as fires, or indirect ones, such as reconstruction and route changes adopted by airliners so as not to fly over the country.
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 (SF6), it is the most powerful of all the greenhouse gases that exist. War deeply pollutes the air, but also the soil.
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