Ukraine leads on creating Aggressor Refunds, a mechanism for compensating environmental damage – Minister

Ukraine is eager to work with the international community to develop Aggressor Refunds, a mechanism for compensating for the damage that the Russians have caused to the environment and climate as a result of armed conflicts. The Russians, as the invaders, are supposed to pay compensation for this damage.

Source: Ruslan Strilets, Ukraine's Minister of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources, at a press conference on the sidelines of COP28 on Sunday, as reported by the news agency Interfax-Ukraine

Quote: "Greenhouse gas emissions during a war should be the responsibility of the initiator of that war. While the world is trying to reduce its carbon footprint on the planet, Russia is destroying these decades-long aspirations every day."

Details: According to Strilets, greenhouse gas emissions from the war in Ukraine already exceed those of Austria: a year ago they were estimated at 97 million tonnes, and they have now reached 150 million tonnes.

A year ago, the area of burned forests in Ukraine was 25,800 hectares; now it is the size of all the forests in Montenegro. The potential for greenhouse gas absorption by Ukrainian forests is being reduced by 175,000 tonnes of CO2 equivalents every year, the minister added.

Background:

• On 4 December, Nils Behrndt, Deputy Director General of the European Commission's Justice Directorate, said the European Union was ready to help Ukraine investigate Russia's environmental crimes, as their scale is huge, but the legal context of these crimes is not well defined.
• Ukraine’s Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources has estimated the damage from additional CO2 emissions at US$10 billion, but Ukraine remains committed to environmental reforms.

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