F-35s, fires and fixing: Ukraine, Gaza wars threaten climate

From fuel guzzled by fighter jets to wildfires sparked by shelling, the war in Ukraine has created vast amounts of planet-warming emissions, according to a new study that says Russia should pay for the damage to the global climate.

The first three years of conflict have generated almost 237 million metric tons of greenhouse gases (GHG), equivalent to putting 120 million fossil-fuel cars on the road, or the combined annual emissions of Belgium, Austria and Ireland, according to researchers.

“This is pushing us in the wrong direction at a time when we drastically have to cut emissions,” said climate researcher Lennard de Klerk, lead author of the report tallying the war’s emissions, which was published this month.

The cost of the climate damage attributable to the war — in which hundreds of thousands have been killed on both sides — already exceeds US$43 billion, de Klerk said.

“Russia should pay compensation for this damage as part of wider war reparations,” he told Context.

A separate study looking at the Israeli-Hamas war in Gaza estimates the carbon footprint for the first 15 months topped 32 million tons of emissions, when post-conflict reconstruction is factored in.

That is comparable to the annual emissions of Ivory Coast.

“The numbers are staggering for such an intense period,” said Benjamin Neimark, who led the research by UK and US-based experts.

“Most direct conflict emissions come from jet fuel, but what really surprised us were the projected emissions for reconstruction. That was a shock and made us sit up.”

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We can’t start making meaningful cuts without adequate baselines. The military has long operated as if the emissions coming out of an F-35 don’t stink, and that has to stop.

Benjamin Neimark, senior lecturer, Queen Mary University of London