The war in Ukraine brought to debate the issue of greenhouse gas emissions from armies, the calculation of which is very difficult to assess, experts explain at COP27. Scientists estimate that these emissions amount to between 1% and 5% of the global total, according to a report published earlier this month in the scientific journal Nature.
“It’s a sector with significant emissions and no one has really taken on this problem,” pointed out Axel Michaelowa, head of the international climate policy research group at the University of Zurich, during a debate.
Comparatively, civil aviation and maritime transport represent approximately 2% each.
The largest armed forces are those of the United States. If they were a country, their emissions per inhabitant would be the highest in the world, equivalent to 42 tons of carbon dioxide (CO2), according to experts' comments in Nature.
Every 100 nautical miles traveled by a US Air Force F-35 fighter jet is equivalent to the annual CO2 emissions of a car in the United Kingdom, these experts estimate.
Ukraine calculated emissions directly and indirectly related to the Russian invasion on February 24, a first for a country at war.
Refugee movements represent the equivalent of 1,4 million tons of CO2; forest, agricultural field or building fires, 23,8 million; the fighting, 8,9 million, and the reconstruction of infrastructures destroyed during the seven months of war representaria the emission of 48,7 million tons, according to the Initiative on GHG Accounting of War project.
This initiative to account for greenhouse gases from war was created two months after the invasion of Ukraine.
The total represents around 83 million tons. For comparison purposes, emissions in the Netherlands in the same period total 100 million tons, indicates the group's report.
“This shows everything we don’t know about other conflicts, past and present. We’ve never had this kind of detail about Iraq, Syria or other wars,” commented Deborah Burton, from Tipping Point North South.
(with AFP)
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This post was last modified on December 19, 2022 19:34 pm
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