The Israel-Gaza war isn’t just about human tragedy or economic collapse; it’s also leaving a massive mark on the environment. Researchers from Queen Mary University of London and Lancaster University found that the Israel-Gaza war produced 33 million tonnes of CO₂ equivalent into the atmosphere. To put that in perspective, that’s as much as Jordan emits in an entire year, which is a stark reminder that war doesn’t just destroy lives and cities; it’s a huge driver of greenhouse gases, too.

How Much Carbon Did Military Operations Produce?

• Active Military Activities: More than 1.3 million tonnes of CO₂e, due to artillery, rockets, and other equipment.
• Construction of Infrastructure: Construction of defensive structures contributed to the carbon emissions.
• Rebuilding of Infrastructure: Rebuilding roads, buildings, and necessary infrastructure contributed to the carbon emissions.
• Comparison with Daily Activities: More than 7.6 million petrol-powered cars’ annual emissions and the carbon dioxide absorbed by 33.1 million acres of forests annually.
• Energy Used in Occupied Areas: Total emissions generated from electrical power generation and fuel used by military bases and other logistics operations were large in size.

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Why Are Military Emissions Often Overlooked?

• Exclusion from reporting: Military emissions are largely excluded from international mechanisms for addressing the climate crisis.
• Invisible cost of conflict: Conflicts are a major source of greenhouse gas emissions, but these are rarely quantified.
• The need for transparency: There is a need for reporting mechanisms, such as the UNFCCC, for the emissions that result from conflicts.
• Joint research effort: This research was a collaborative effort with Lancaster University, University of Energy and Natural Resources, Ghana, Climate and Community Project, Conflict and Environment Observatory, and the Initiative on GHG Accounting of War.
• Escalating emissions rapidly: There are times when an outbreak of conflict occurs, resulting in a large, rapid increase in greenhouse gas emissions that are very difficult to account for or integrate into annual reporting by governments regarding their climate.

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What Is the Global Significance of War-Related Emissions?

The environmental impact of the Israel-Gaza war highlights a pressing issue: wars are contributing to global warming in an invisible manner. Besides the human impact of wars, the emissions from war activities and reconstruction works reveal a startling fact: wars have the potential to emit greenhouse gases equivalent to the total emissions of a particular country. Quantifying these emissions helps in understanding the larger implications of wars, highlighting the fact that wars are not only a geopolitical issue but also an environmental crisis.

Scholars have emphasized the need to quantify military emissions in the context of global warming, which is essential to understand the environmental impact of wars because the Israel-Gaza war produced 33 million tonnes of CO₂ in an invisible manner.

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