Climate damage caused by russia’s war in Ukraine: 24 February 2022 – 23 February 2026

by the Initiative on GHG Accounting of War

With Russia’s war against Ukraine ongoing, emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG) have continued to grow. The sixth assessment covers four years since the full-scale invasion and concludes that GHG emissions went up by 75 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent (tCO2e) bringing the total since 24 February 2022 to 311 million tCO2e. This large figure is comparable to the annual emissions of France or half of Germany’s yearly emissions.

While emissions rose across all impact categories during the fourth year, war-driven landscape fires surged for the second consecutive year. Unusually hot and dry conditions — likely intensified by global warming — turned even minor sparks from combat into uncontrollable blazes, as firefighting remained impossible. Emissions from reconstruction efforts also spiked, particularly in the energy sector, as Russia escalated attacks on Ukraine’s electricity and heating infrastructure during the harsh winter of 2025–2026.

With the Social Cost of Carbon of 185 USD / tCO2e applied, the climate damage caused by this war amounts to over 57 billion USD and continues to grow.