Emissions from Israel’s war in
Gaza have ‘immense’ effect on climate catastrophe
Nina Lakhani Climate justice
reporter
Tue 9 Jan 2024 08.30 GMT
Exclusive: First months of conflict produced more planet-warming gases than 20 climate-vulnerable nations do in a year, study shows.
The planet-warming emissions generated during the first two months of the war in Gaza were greater than the annual carbon footprint of more than 20 of the world’s most climate-vulnerable nations, new research reveals.
The vast majority (99%) of the 281,000 metric tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2 equivalent) estimated to have been generated in the first 60 days following the 7 October Hamas attack can be attributed to Israel’s aerial bombardment and ground invasion of Gaza, according to a first-of-its-kind analysis by researchers in the UK and US.
According to the study, which is based on only a handful of carbon-intensive activities and is therefore probably a significant underestimate, the climate cost of the first 60 days of Israel’s military response was equivalent to burning at least 150,000 tonnes of coal.
The analysis, which is yet to be peer reviewed, includes CO2 from aircraft missions, tanks and fuel from other vehicles, as well as emissions generated by making and exploding the bombs, artillery and rockets. It does not include other planet-warming gases such as methane. Almost half the total CO2 emissions were down to US cargo planes flying military supplies to Israel.
The data, shared exclusively with the Guardian, provides the first, albeit conservative estimate of the carbon cost of the current conflict in Gaza, which is causing unprecedented human suffering, infrastructure damage and environmental catastrophe.
It comes amid growing calls for greater accountability of military greenhouse gas emissions, which play an outsize role in the climate crisis but are largely kept secret and unaccounted for in the annual UN negotiations on climate action.
According to Crawford, about 20% of the US military’s annual operational emissions go towards protecting fossil fuel interests in the Gulf region – a climate change hotspot, warming twice as fast as the rest of the inhabited world. Yet the US – like other Nato countries – is mostly focused on the climate crisis as a national security risk, rather than on its contribution to it.
Responding to the carbon analysis, Lior Haiat, a spokesperson for the Israeli ministry of foreign affairs, said: “Israel did not want this war. It was imposed on us by the Hamas terror organization that killed, murdered, executed hundreds of people and kidnapped over 240 including children, women and the elderly. ”
“Among all the problems facing the state of Palestine in the coming
decades, climate change is the most
immediate and certain – and this has been amplified by the occupation and war
on Gaza since the 7 October,” said Ikhmais, the Palestinian climate director.
“The carbon emissions from the military attacks contradict the UNFCCC and Paris
agreement goal … recognizing the environmental impact of war is crucial.”
Lesson 1
Task 1. Read the article, write out the words in bold
and translate them into Russian.
Task 2. Consult the dictionary and be ready to explain
the meaning of the words in bold.
Task 3. Make up your own sentences with the words in
bold (at home).
Task 4. Make up dialogues using the words given in bold (in
class).
Lesson 2.
Task 5. Think over and divide the text of the article
into logical parts.
Task 6. Make up and write a question to each logical
part.
Task 7. Be ready to render the article.
Task 8. Learn by heart the words in bold and be ready
for a dictation translation.
