UN pushes EU to help fund Ukraine’s postwar clean-up

UN officials are pressing the EU and other national governments to fund the effort to clean up debris and restore ecosystems destroyed by the fighting in Ukraine.

Inger Andersen, executive director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), will meet the EU’s environment commissioner Virginijus Sinkevičius on Monday to discuss ways to monitor and finance the rehabilitation of millions of hectares of burnt forest, damaged coastlines and protected areas of Ukraine, according to people involved in the plans.

Ukraine’s environment ministry has projected that losses related to environmental damage amount to €49.5bn, while the World Bank has said that the cost of removing the debris related to Russia’s full-scale invasion alone is around $5bn. Heavy use of asbestos in Ukrainian homes and the overloading of existing waste disposal infrastructure are a particular concern, according to UNEP officials.

Brussels is discussing a four year financing plan for Ukraine but it will be challenging to gain agreement from all 27 member states at a time when the bloc’s own budget is under pressure. Last year, Ukraine was the first non-EU country to join Brussels’ LIFE programme, which provides financing for environmental projects.

Greenhouse gas emissions resulting from the first year of fighting amount to 33mn tons of Co2 equivalent, according to Ukrainian government estimates, which is comparable to the annual output of Lithuania. However, researchers led by Dutch expert Lennard de Klerk published data at the Bonn climate summit this week suggesting that the overall figure could be more than three times that.

The meeting between UNEP and the European Commission follows the breach of the Kakhovka dam last week, which caused catastrophic flooding. One million Ukrainians have been left without drinking water and thousands have had to be evacuated from flood-stricken homes. The water has inundated one national park and resulted in the partial destruction of several other protected areas.

Ukrainian officials have warned that mines from the area around the dam, near to the frontline, could have been washed out to sea. There are also concerns that sediment accumulated over years at the bottom of the dam could turn into a dust bowl as it dries.

“With the money pledged for reconstruction it is critical that right from the beginning we take into account the need to protect human health and the environment,” a UNEP official said.

EU officials said that Sinkevičius was expected to discuss with UNEP ways to monitor and document the environmental devastation in Ukraine and the financing required for nature restoration.

The World Bank and its partners estimated in March that Ukraine needs $411bn for its reconstruction, accounting for damage from the war so far. Transport, housing and energy made up most of that owing to the widespread destruction of infrastructure.

But the Ukrainian government is working on 54 environmental reconstruction projects and pushing for the topic to be a feature of a conference in London this week focusing on Ukraine’s recovery, which will be attended by US secretary of state Antony Blinken and commission president Ursula von der Leyen.

Jorge Moreira da Silva, executive director of the UN Office for Projected Services, who travelled this month to Mykolayiv in the south of Ukraine, said the damage was “tragic” and that the “environmental cost needs to be fully taken into account”.

“Making sure Ukraine’s recovery goes hand in hand with biodiversity and climate efforts is not just good for Ukraine, it also helps broader green transition efforts in Europe,” he said.