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New Delhi: The deadly war in Ukraine has claimed thousands of lives and left massive devastation in its wake. Over 100,000 lives, including military and civilian, may have been lost in the raging war. The war has also taken a huge toll on the economy of Ukraine. However, the environmental impact of the war often goes unnoticed.
And now, Ukraine is planning to seek almost $44 billion from Russia for damages linked to a spike in climate-warming emissions from the ongoing war, Reuters reported quoting a government minister.
It is for the first time that a country is seeking compensation for a wartime increase in emissions — including those generated by fossil fuels, cement, and steel used in the fighting, as well as by the loss of forests to fires due to the confrontation.
Pavlo Kartashov, the country's deputy minister for economy, environment, and agriculture, reportedly said: "A lot of damage was caused to water, to land, to forests." He added, "We have huge amounts of additional CO2 emissions and greenhouse gases."
Lennard de Klerk, a Dutch carbon accounting expert, noted that the war has generated an estimated 237 million tonnes of extra CO₂-equivalent emissions since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. This was almost the same as the combined annual emissions of Ireland, Belgium and Austria, Reuters report said.
De Klerk said that he helped Ukraine in drawing the damage estimate using a 2022 Nature study that put the social cost of carbon — an estimate of damages to society from CO₂ — at around $185 per ton.
A new Joint Research Centre, EU Science Hub, report pointed out that Russia’s invasion in 2022 has contributed to environmental devastation because of the release of potentially toxic elements due to military activities. It added: "New greenhouse gas emissions have emerged associated with military operations as well as a redistribution or deterioration of pollution impacting air quality and soil, and an increased risk of forest fires. Chemicals from munition and other pollutants, and damage to inland waterways and marine infrastructure are likely to have long-term consequences for human health and biodiversity of ecosystems, particularly for those in the Black Sea and Sea of Azov."
Since 2022, the destruction of industrial and energy facilities caused by war has resulted in a drop in GHG emissions (23-26% reduction in 2022 compared to 2021) and to the emergence of new GHG emissions associated with military operations, the JRC report pointed out.
It added that around 1.7 million hectares of Ukrainian forests are affected by war, accounting for approximately 15% of the country's total forest cover. In 2024, Ukraine suffered record-breaking wildfires. Some time back, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) revealed that over 3m hectares of forest have been affected, including 1m hectares in protected areas, due to the conflict.
Ukraine is all set to submit its claim through a new compensation mechanism set up by the Council of Europe, which has already received around 70,000 individual claims from Ukrainians for war-related damages. All these claims — including those submitted by private firms and other legal entities — will eventually be assessed and resolved by a claims commission. However, there's no clarity over from where will be funds come to pay the compensation.
