Guide to Estimating Greenhouse Gas Emissions Related to Conflicts

Wars and conflicts are constantly ongoing around the world, yet their impact on climate remains under-researched. Existing international emission accounting systems mostly overlook military emissions or account for them selectively. Military operations often conceal data for security reasons, while data collection in combat zones is complicated or even impossible.

Based on Ukraine’s experience, experts have developed methodological recommendations that can be used to estimate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions related to armed conflicts. The guide describes the main sources of emissions during conflicts, including fossil fuel consumption by military vehicles, large-scale forest fires, destruction of infrastructure, and subsequent rebuilding processes.

This document includes guidelines for assessing emissions from conflicts and proposes a system for evaluating all aspects of conflicts to quantify their impact on emissions. Considering the complexity of conflicts and the broad range of impacts they cause, this guide cannot analyze every aspect of the impact. Therefore, this document should be regarded as a ‘living’ one, subject to continuous updates and improvements.

Download the publication:

Guide to Estimating Greenhouse Gas Emissions Related to Conflicts (PDF)

The publication is also available in English:

Methodological guidance to estimate conflict-related GHG emissions

You can find the report on the impact of the Russian war on climate here:

Impact of the Russian War in Ukraine on Climate

This report was created with the support of the Conflicts and Environmental Observatory (CEOBS), the Ecological Initiative Center “Ecoaction”, the European Climate Foundation (ECF), and the International Climate Initiative (IKI).

The views, conclusions, and recommendations belong to the authors of this report and do not necessarily reflect the position of the Conflicts and Environmental Observatory (CEOBS), the Ecological Initiative Center “Ecoaction”, the European Climate Foundation (ECF), the International Climate Initiative (IKI), and/or the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection of Germany. Responsibility for the content rests solely with the authors of this report.

Details read here: Ecoaction

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