Gaza’s environmental crisis: The long-term climate impact of conflict

New research indicates that the carbon dioxide produced in this period surpassed the annual greenhouse gas emissions of 100 countries, contributing to global warming and exacerbating the global climate emergency, in addition to causing massive civilian casualties.

According to The Guardian, a study reveals that the long-term climate cost of Gaza’s destruction, cleanup, and reconstruction could reach 31 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e), surpassing the total annual greenhouse gas emissions of Costa Rica and Estonia in 2023.

However, there is no requirement for countries to report military-related emissions to the UN climate body.

The relentless bombardment, siege, and the Zionist regime’s refusal to comply with international court rulings, alongside the near-unconditional military, energy, and diplomatic support it receives from allies, including the U.S. and UK, are highlighted in the study.

This report, the third and most comprehensive analysis by a team of U.S.- and UK-based researchers on the climate costs of the first 15 months of the Zionist regime’s war on Gaza, details a conflict that, in addition to killing over 53,000 Palestinians, has caused extensive damage to Gaza’s infrastructure and triggered an environmental catastrophe.

In total, researchers estimate that the long-term climate cost of the Zionist regime’s military destruction of Gaza and its parallel attacks on Yemen, Lebanon, and Syria is equivalent to charging 2.6 billion smartphones or operating 84 gas-fired power plants for a year.

The massacre and environmental destruction in Gaza resumed when the Zionist regime unilaterally violated a ceasefire agreement after two months. Such findings could ultimately aid in calculating compensation claims.

Astrid Puentes, the UN Special Rapporteur on the human right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment, stated: “This updated study underscores the urgency of halting escalating crimes and ensuring compliance with international law by Israel and all countries, including decisions by the International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice.”

She emphasized: “Whether countries agree to call it genocide or not, what we are facing severely impacts all life in Gaza and threatens human rights in the region and globally due to the exacerbation of climate change.”

The study, currently under review by One Earth magazine, reveals the following:

• Over 99% of the approximately 1.89 million tons of carbon dioxide emitted from October 7, 2023, to the temporary ceasefire in January 2025 is attributed to the Zionist regime’s aerial bombardment and ground invasion of Gaza.
• Nearly 30% of the greenhouse gases emitted during this period stem from the U.S. transporting 50,000 tons of weapons and other military equipment to the occupied territories, primarily via cargo planes and ships from European reserves. Another 20% is attributed to the Zionist regime’s reconnaissance and bombing missions, tanks, other military vehicles, and the carbon dioxide produced by the manufacture and explosion of bombs and artillery.
• Solar energy accounted for up to a quarter of Gaza’s electricity, one of the highest shares globally, but most panels and the region’s only power plant have been damaged or destroyed. Gaza’s limited access to electricity now relies on high-consumption diesel generators, which emit just over 130,000 tons of greenhouse gases, or 7% of the total emissions from the conflict.
• Over 40% of the total greenhouse gas emissions were produced by approximately 70,000 aid trucks allowed into Gaza by the Zionist regime, though the UN deems this amount grossly insufficient to meet the basic humanitarian needs of 2.2 million displaced and starving Palestinians.
• The greatest climate cost will arise from Gaza’s reconstruction, as the Zionist regime has reduced it to about 60 million tons of toxic debris. The carbon cost of debris removal by trucks and the reconstruction of 436,000 apartments, 700 schools, mosques, clinics, government offices, other buildings, and 5 kilometers of Gaza’s roads will produce approximately 29.4 million tons of carbon dioxide, equivalent to Afghanistan’s total greenhouse gas emissions in 2023.

An expert commented: “This report is a shocking and alarming reminder of the ecological and environmental costs of Israel’s genocidal campaign on the planet and its besieged people.”

They added: “This is also a war of the U.S., UK, and the European Union, all of whom have provided seemingly unlimited military resources to enable Israel to devastate the most densely populated place on Earth. This clearly demonstrates the destabilizing regional impact of Israel’s settler-colonial state and its inseparability from the Western military-industrial complex.”

The Zionist regime’s war on Gaza has also sparked regional conflicts, and the study highlights their environmental costs.

In Lebanon, over 90% of the estimated 3,747 tons of carbon dioxide produced by sporadic exchanges stems from the Zionist regime’s bombs, with only 8%