Photo credit Special IG for Afghanistan Reconstruction Wikipedia Commons

According to a just-released study, the climate cost of the first two years of Russia-Ukraine war was greater than the annual greenhouse gas emissions generated individually by 175 countries, including the Netherlands, Venezuela, and Kuwait. The estimated 175 million tons of GHG pollution include carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, and sulphur hexafluoride. This is equivalent to driving 90 million fossil-fueled cars for an entire year.

According to a study of the Israel-Gaza war, the projected emissions just from the first 60 days were greater than the annual emissions of 20 individual countries and territories. This figure is for only two months; the conflict has now continued for nine months.

According to the nonprofit Conflict and Environment Observatory, the world’s militaries account for approximately 5.5% of global GHG emissions. US military emissions are on the same scale as the total GHG emissions of countries like Norway or Sweden.

For the Ukraine war study: https://en.ecoaction.org.ua/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Climate-Damage-Caused-by-War-24-months-EN.pdf

For the Gaza war study: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4684768

For global military emissions: https://ceobs.org/new-estimate-global-military-is-responsible-for-more-emissions-than-russia/