Ukraine War Sent 83 Million Tons of CO2 Emissions into Atmosphere: Reports

Emissions caused by diesel-powered tanks, fighter jets and missile blasts by both Russian and Ukrainian side in the ongoing war has spewed out 83 million tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, reports say.

Fires in buildings, forests and fields sent into the skies 23.8 million tons of CO2 equivalent, and the fighting itself 8.9 million tons, AFP reported citing Initiative on GHG Accounting of War project.

The displacement of people caused 1.4 million tons, said the project created two months into the war, while reconstruction of destroyed infrastructure will cause another 48.7 million tons of carbon emissions.

Also read: Pentagon Emitted More Greenhouse Gases than Sweden or Denmark in 2017

The total comes to nearly 83 million tons as a direct consequence of the war, now in its eighth month — compared to around 100 million tons produced from all sources by the Netherlands over the same period, according to the initiative.

"It shows us how much we are missing from other conflicts past and present," said Deborah Burton, co-founder of the group Tipping Point North South. "We have not had this level of detail on Iraq or Syria or other conflicts."

Nature journal estimates that planet-warming emissions from the world's militaries range between 1-5% of the global total. This figure can be compared to shipping or aviation — both around 2%, according to the paper led by researchers in Britain.

If the U.S. military were a country, it would have the world's highest per capita emissions, at 42 tons of CO2 equivalent per member of its personnel. British experts say that when F-35 jet flies 100 nautical miles, it hurls into the atmosphere as much CO2 as the average British petrol car does in a year.