https://en.ecoaction.org.ua/russia-caused-10-billion-climate-damage.html

 

The first 18 months of the full-scale Russian war in Ukraine might have caused up to 150 million tons of CO2e of additional GHG emissions. This is more than the annual GHG emissions from a highly industrialized country like Belgium. The total climate damage that the Russian Federation has caused and shall compensate is estimated at USD 9.6 billion.

 

«The first step was to research and calculate climate damage. The climate aspect is usually not taken into account during war, but it does not remain within the borders of countries and has a global impact. During climate negotiations, it is important for the parties to recognise the responsibility of aggressor countries for the damage caused to the climate during the war, and it's compensation. Responsibility is one of the factors that will prevent further damage and the outbreak of new wars», says Yevheniia Zasiadko, Head of Green Investment Department of Ecoaction.

 

The data is provided in the third interim assessment of climate damage caused by russia's war in Ukraine conducted by Initiative on GHG accounting of war with the support of the Ministry of the Environmental protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine and Ukrainian NGO Ecoaction. The findings were presented at an official side event at COP28.

«During two weeks of the COP28 climate conference, almost 1 million tonnes of CO2 could be emitted from warfare activities alone. Since Russian aggression started, millions of tonnes of fuel have been pumped and moved by hundreds of kilometers to power death, destruction and environmental damage caused by Russia in Ukraine, including climate change impacts that will be felt around the globe. While governments are struggling to solve climate change problems at COP28, climate damage of the war continues to grow everyday due to ongoing warfare, fires, destruction of infrastructure and carbon pools, as well as other direct and indirect impacts, including hybrid warfare tactics», says Mykola Shlapak, the co-author of the research.

 

The emissions from the warfare (mostly the fuel consumption by troops) are estimated at 37 million tons of CO2e. Another 22.2 million tons of CO2e were caused by wildfires as the number of fires larger than one hectare has increased 36-fold during the first year of the war compared to the pre-war period of 12 months and remained a significant source of GHG emissions.

The biggest source of emissions attributed to war is post-war reconstruction of damaged and destroyed infrastructure. The projection shows that it might lead to 57 million tons of CO2e of additional emissions. Yet future construction emissions, in particular those resulting from the usage of cement and steel, can be avoided by 30% to even 50% through introducing right incentives for a low-carbon reconstruction.

The authors state that Russia should be held accountable for these emissions and the resulting damage to the global climate. Yet neither the international climate change regime nor the international humanitarian law offers a clear pathway to bring Russia to justice.

 

«This does not mean Russia cannot be held accountable. Ukraine, together with its international allies, is setting up an International Compensation Mechanism to fund the recovery of Ukraine. We believe that the damage done to the climate should be part of the compensation mechanism and should be included in the damage registry that is currently being set-up under the auspices of the Council of Europe», - says Lennard de Klerk, the lead author of the research.

 

Ukraine can use the compensation to mitigate the climate damage Russia has caused by reversing most of the war emissions to the benefit of the world community. The most obvious way to undo the damage is to channel funds to the reafforestation of destroyed forests and other nature-based solutions that remove emissions from the atmosphere.