The war in Ukraine is deepening the climate crisis at a time when global greenhouse gas emissions are already running at a record high, according to a report by carbon accounting experts who have tallied the overall impact of the conflict.
The report, which is due to be released on the sidelines of the U.N. climate summit in Bonn this week, calculates that the first 12 months of the war will trigger a net increase of 120 million metric tons of greenhouse gases, equivalent to the annual output of a country such as Belgium.
A group of researchers led by Dutch expert Lennard de Klerk looked at a range of contributors to emissions, from fuel used by vehicles, to forest fires, to changes in energy use in Europe and the future reconstruction of buildings and infrastructure.