How does war affect the climate?

With the Ukrainian counter-offensive underway, Sophie Eastaugh looks at the climate damage caused by the conflict there and by the recent civil war in Tigray, Ethiopia.

Sophie speaks to Lennard de Klerk, a Dutch specialist in carbon accounting, who’s just published the most comprehensive analysis yet of the greenhouse gas emissions caused by the fighting in Ukraine. For her part, an environmental researcher in Kyiv tells The Climate Question her country may have an opportunity to build back greener once the war is over.

The programme also hears from farmers in Tigray about how a region once praised internationally for its reforestation efforts is now losing tree cover at an alarming rate.

And this edition of The Climate Question looks more broadly at the carbon footprint of militaries around the world, speaking to Professor Neta Crawford, one of the leading experts in the field.

Presenter: Sophie Eastaugh

Producer: Daniel Gordon

Research: Matt Toulson

Sound Mix: Tom Brignell

Series producer: Alex Lewis

Editor: China Collins

Production coordinators: Sophie Hill, Debbie Richford

Contributors:

Lennard de Klerk, Carbon Accounting Expert

Professor Neta Crawford, Balliol College, Oxford

Natalia Gozak, Ukrainian environmentalist

Biniam Gidey, Reporter, Tigray, Ethiopia