How are climate and the war in Ukraine connected? What environmental damage has Ukraine suffered from the war? How are Middle Eastern countries transitioning to renewable energy? Why are the oceans warming? What is Greta Thunberg's role in the fight for the climate? Senior researcher at the Ukrainian Hydrometeorological Institute of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine and the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, candidate of physical and mathematical sciences Svitlana Krakovska answered these and other questions in an interview with the online publication "Left Bank".
Ukraine has suffered serious environmental damage as a result of the hostilities. The scientist noted: "The war exerts additional pressure, and we should insist on this point. We are talking about so-called military emissions, additional CO₂ emissions due to military actions. And this is not only direct emissions from explosions, burning equipment or buildings, forest fires, etc. There are also indirect emissions, for example, because commercial planes now fly different, longer routes, bypassing Ukraine. The NATO report 'Climate and Security Impact Assessment' includes these calculations (according to analysts' estimates, up to 175 million tons of CO₂ were additionally emitted into the atmosphere during the first two years of the war. And the total damage caused to the climate is estimated at over $32 billion.)".
The scientist emphasized that Middle Eastern countries are beginning to transition to renewable energy. After all, fossil fuels are a thing of the past, and they already understand this there. Moreover, fossil fuels are not eternal, unlike the sun, wind, and water. And these Middle Eastern countries are starting to reorient themselves toward the sun, toward what they have. They are ordering, for example, research on the formation and forecasting of dust storms because they need technology to clean solar panels from dust that reduces generation.