The war in Ukraine has left tens of thousands of people dead, destroyed homes and created millions of refugees, but it has also caused great damage to the environment, Ukraine’s Environment Minister Svitlana Hryntchuk told the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP29) in Baku.
The environmental damage caused by military operations following a full-scale attack on Russia in February 2022 is estimated at $71 billion, Hryntchuk said on Tuesday.
Additionally, an additional 180 million tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) have been released into the atmosphere due to shelling and forest fires, he said.
According to the minister, about 3 million hectares of forests were destroyed by the war, and 139,000 square kilometers of Ukraine were contaminated by explosive remnants.
“More than 6 million Ukrainians were forced to take temporary refuge in various European countries, resulting in the addition of 3.3 million tons of CO2,” he said.
The CO2 emissions figures are consistent with those of a study carried out in June by a Ukrainian non-governmental organization, which found CO2 emissions to have reached 175 million tonnes during the first 24 months since the start of the all-out offensive.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky marked the 1,000th anniversary of the Russian war on Tuesday, calling for more efforts to push Moscow toward a “fair peace.”
Developing countries are collectively demanding that industrialized countries mobilize at least $1.3 billion a year in climate finance – 13 times the amount currently available – at the Azerbaijan talks. The two-week UN conference is scheduled to conclude on November 22.
Source link
