BERLIN – The war in Ukraine has not only cost tens of thousands of lives and forced millions to flee their homes, it has also wreaked widespread destruction on the climate.
A study by the Initiative on Greenhouse Gas Accounting of War (IGGAW) released on Wednesday, found that since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the war has emitted as much climate-damaging greenhouse gas as Austria, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia combined releease in a year.
According to the study, the total emissions from the war now amounted to 237 million metric tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) equivalents, used as a standard measure, used to account for the different effects of the various greenhouse gases.
One third of the climate-damaging greenhouse gases had been released by the fighting itself, for example by tanks and jets that burned through great amounts of diesel and kerosene.
Forest and bush fires sparked by the war also played their part.
The IGGAW report found that the area burned in 2024 was more than 20 times larger than the average for the years 2006-2021, with the fires mainly raging on or near the front lines or in border areas.
Climate scientists also recorded an unusually dry summer in 2024, which they attributed in part, to escalating global warming, and which fuelled the fires.
Firefighting operations were mostly impossible due to the war, meaning the fires often spread uncontrollably.
The researchers said 2024 showed how climate change and armed conflict reinforced each other and accelerated global warming. (dpa/NAN)
