CounterPunch Exclusives

CounterPunch Exclusives

The Iran War: A Great Carbon Emitter

Photograph Source: Tasnim News Agency – CC BY 4.0

Truth may well be the first casualty of war, but death, injury and environmental degradation are bound to be keeping up in the hit lists.  Attacks on gas fields, oil refineries and petrochemical plants will always leave an impression once the conflict concludes.  In the case of carbon emissions, the most challenging obstacle in collective efforts to stay the rise of the earth’s temperatures, the Iran War is doing much to throw everything out of kilter.

The gloomy modelling from the Climate and Community Institute shows that the first fortnight of the Iran War, which began on February 28 as a crime against peace pursued by Israel and the United States, produced some 5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide.  To get a sense of proportion, the carbon pollution exceeded that of Iceland in one year.  The institute, in arriving at such figures, considered the carbon emissions arising from destroyed homes and buildings, destroyed fuel, the fuel used in combat and support operations, equipment embodied carbon (equipment lost) and missiles and drones.

To give a sense of the granular detail, a Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II fighter consumes roughly 5,600 to 6,500 litres of fuel during a single combat sortie lasting one-and-a-half to two hours.  The emission of carbon dioxide during such a mission is approximately that of 14-17 tonnes, the lifespan of a conventional passenger vehicle.  The company behind the production of the F-35 has also admitted that its........

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