By Lucas Flaherty
The war in Ukraine has killed, displaced, or worried people both inside and outside its borders; the invasion has also harmed the environment as war vehicles release tons upon tons of greenhouse gasses. When people think of greenhouse gasses, they often visualize them coming from cars, trains and factories. War vehicles fail to come up in any discussions about greenhouse gasses because they are not used by day-to-day consumers. Nevertheless, they are not fuel-efficient and can emit grim amounts of greenhouse gasses.
There is a wide range of emissions when it comes to war vehicles; armored trucks are quite inefficient with their six miles per gallon compared to an average car’s roughly 24 miles per gallon. Fighter jets with nuclear capabilities such as the B-2 are even less efficient, going just 0.3 miles per gallon. This leads to a heavy amount of emissions with the B-2 averaging around 250,000 kg of carbon dioxide emissions every mission, an extraordinarily high amount compared to the 4,600 kg of carbon dioxide that an average passenger vehicle emits per year. These high amounts of greenhouse gasses exemplify the environmental impact of war, whether in Ukraine or in any other part of the world.
Military vehicles, along with the people and venues it takes to use them, account for around 5 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions. Throughout the invasion of Ukraine, the increased use of military vehicles along with the uptick of people needing to use them will present a notable rise in the overall military greenhouse gas emissions. The 40-mile Russian convoy is packed with tanks, artillery trucks and many more vehicles that eat up petroleum. To think of the sheer amount of oil and gas needed to power such vehicles is unimaginable, especially considering how inefficient these vehicles are.
While ground vehicles certainly contribute a grand portion of military emissions, airplanes also have a massive carbon footprint as they are extremely fuel-inefficient compared to other vehicles. Newer fighter jets such as the F-35 consume around 5,600 liters of fuel per hour of flight, an astronomical number when compared to the fraction of a liter used in an hour by the average sedan. The increased flight times of these planes in Ukraine and Russia have led to an increase in emissions in the area as well. While these vehicles are up-to-date regarding the European Environmental Agency’s rules, they are still highly inefficient and present a significant environmental problem from long-term wars.
Several agencies and departments have noted the environmental toll of war vehicle, and are trying to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. The U.S. Department of Defense has made a “decarbonization push,” leading to their attempting to mitigate their carbon footprint. They are employing tactics such as considering climate change in their activities and their risk assessments, incorporating climate change into their strategic planning and using their department as a platform for the development of new, climate-friendly technology. But more needs to be done. War will inevitably pollute given all the inhumane and illogical decisions made that fail to consider future outcomes. One would think it superior to avoid deploying the vehicles to begin with.
The current situation in Ukraine will lead to an increase in greenhouse gas emissions in the area and will impact the air negatively. War is horrible for many reasons, but the environment is often neglected as one of them. We must remind ourselves that war affects people directly through weaponry, machinery and bombings, but also indirectly through air pollution and the amplification of global warming effects.
Works Cited
Environmental Protection Agency. (n.d.). EPA. Retrieved March 7, 2022, from https://www.epa.gov/greenvehicles/greenhouse-gas-emissions-typical-passenger-vehicle
Fact #861 February 23, 2015 idle fuel consumption for selected gasoline and diesel vehicles. Energy.gov. (n.d.). Retrieved March 7, 2022, from https://www.energy.gov/eere/vehicles/fact-861-february-23-2015-idle-fuel-consumption-selected-gasoline-and-diesel-vehicles
Maps and Data. Alternative Fuels Data Center: Maps and Data. (n.d.). Retrieved March 7, 2022, from https://afdc.energy.gov/data/
Peck, M. (2019, November 1). The next threat to the stealth F-35? global warming. The National Interest. Retrieved March 7, 2022, from https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/next-threat-stealth-f-35-global-warming-92931
Statement by secretary of defense Lloyd J. Austin III on tackling the climate crisis at ho. U.S. Department of Defense. (n.d.). Retrieved March 7, 2022, from https://www.defense.gov/News/Releases/Release/Article/2484504/statement-by-secretary-of-defense-lloyd-j-austin-iii-on-tackling-the-climate-cr/
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