Revealed: repairing Israel’s destruction of Gaza will come at huge climate cost

Reconstructing buildings destroyed in first four months of Israeli assault will generate nearly 60m tonnes of CO2 equivalent - study

The carbon cost of rebuilding Gaza will be greater than the annual greenhouse gas emissions generated individually by 135 countries, exacerbating the global climate emergency on top of the unprecedented death toll, new research reveals.

Reconstructing the estimated 200,000 apartment buildings, schools, universities, hospitals, mosques, bakeries, water and sewage plants damaged and destroyed by Israel in the first four months of the war on Gaza will generate as much as 60m tonnes of CO₂ equivalent (tCO₂e), according to new analysis by researchers in the UK and US. This is on a par with the total 2022 emissions generated by countries such as Portugal and Sweden - and more than twice the annual emissions of Afghanistan.

The planet-warming emissions generated by aerial and ground attacks during the first 120 days of the war on Gaza were greater than the annual carbon footprint of 26 of the world's most climate-vulnerable nations including Vanuatu and Greenland, according to the research, which is yet to be peer-reviewed.

More than 99% of the estimated 652,552 metric tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO₂ equivalent/CO₂e) estimated to have been generated in the first four months after the Hamas attack on 7 October are linked to Israel's aerial bombardment and ground invasion of Gaza.

Almost 30% of the total CO₂e emissions were generated by the 244 American cargo planes known to have flown bombs, munitions and other military supplies to Israel in the first 120 days.

According to the calculation, which is almost certainly a significant underestimate due to missing military emissions data, the carbon cost of the first 120 days of Israel's assault on Gaza was equivalent to the combined annual energy use of 77,200 American households.

Hamas rockets fired into Israel between October 2023 and February 2024 generated an estimated 1,140 tCO₂e. Another 2,700 tCO₂e were attributed to the fuel stored by the group prior to 7 October. Combined, the Hamas carbon footprint over the first 120 days was equivalent to the annual energy use of 454 American homes.