On Tuesday 28 November, the opening day of the ‘High-Level Conference on Ukraine’s Green Recovery’, organised by the European Commission in Vilnius (Lithuania, 28 November - 1 December), the European Commissioner for the Environment, Lithuanian Virginijus Sinkevičius, sent a message of “hope” to Ukraine, reiterating that the EU would cooperate and provide “continued support for the green and sustainable reconstruction” of a country devastated by “Russian aggression”.
Political decision-makers, civil society, municipalities and Ukrainian and European industrialists are meeting in Vilnius to prepare for this reconstruction.
At a time when the Commission has just recommended the opening of negotiations for Ukraine’s accession to the EU, the Commissioner stressed that EU environmental legislation represented a significant part of the acquis communautaire.
He also highlighted two programmes in support of green recovery - the new European Bauhaus for Ukraine and the Phoenix initiative for sustainable cities. Both are part of the €50 billion Ukraine Facility proposed by the Commission for 2024-2027 and currently being adopted.
In August, the Ukrainian government first reported the following environmental damage: 497 water management facilities damaged or totally destroyed, over €1.4 billion worth of damage in the forestry sector, 20% of protected natural areas under threat, a major environmental disaster resulting from the destruction of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power station, not to mention the fact that Ukraine is now the most heavily mined country in the world.
“We have already documented more than 2,900 environmental crimes or acts of ecocide, and that damage amounts to more than €56.7 billion,” Ukraine’s Minister of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources, Ruslan Strilets, told the press. He also thanked the EU for not waiting until the end of the war to prepare for reconstruction.
“Our key vision of future of our Ukraine is build back better and build back greener”, he said, echoing the World Economic Forum’s slogan for post-Covid-19 recovery (‘Build back better’).
Asked about the environmental damage beyond Ukrainian territory, the European Commissioner replied that the data on the preliminary assessment of the pollution had been shared with Ukraine’s neighbouring countries, but that it was “very, very difficult” to estimate the cost, since the fighting was still going on.
“500 water treatment plants destroyed or damaged, that gives you an idea of the impact on drinking water: there will be additional costs”, he said. Mr Sinkevičius conceded that “making Russia pay will be very, very difficult, because we need proof of what they have done”.
The Ukrainian government is expected to propose a comprehensive recovery and restoration plan by the end of the year, closely linked to the €50 billion ‘Ukraine Facility’.
See the Commission’s publication ‘Greening the Ukrainian recovery’: https://aeur.eu/f/9sx (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)