Ukraine Environment Profile 2012

Ukraine faces significant environmental challenges, primarily related to the Chornobyl nuclear power plant disaster in 1986, industrial pollution, and waste management. Despite the government commitment to conservation of natural resources and biodiversity as national priorities, Ukraine ranks 20th in the world for greenhouse gas emissions and is part the European nations with the highest levels of land under plough, energy consumption, water usage, and illegal logging.

In accordance with its agreement with the G7 and European Commission in 1995, Ukraine permanently closed the last operating reactor at the Chornobyl site in 2000 and completed amount urgent and required stabilization measures of the "sarcophagus"--the concrete shelter hastily built around the damaged reactor by the Soviet Union in the months following the disaster. Construction of a new confinement shelter to be built around the sarcophagus was begun in 2007, with commissioning due in 2014.

Ukraine established a pollution fee system that taxes air and water emissions, inclunding solid waste disposal, but the derived revenues still are not fully redirected to environmental activities. Under the National Action Plan on Environment Protection for 2011-2015 approved in May 2011, the government pledges to complete the removal and disposal of pesticides and toxic chemicals from air and water by the end of 2012, create automated air pollution monitoring systems in major industrial regions, improve urban water supply and wastewater treatment, and decrease carbon dioxide emissions in the municipal heating sector by 10% by 2015.

Ukraine is a party to numerous international conventions and treaties including the Kyoto Protocol and is interested in regional environmental cooperation. Although its commitment to environmental protection and sustainable development lags behind commitments made by its East European neighbors, Ukrainian policy for EU integration is a positive driver for the development of a national environmental policy commensurate with EU environmental standards.

Ukraine suffers from numerous environmental problems as a legacy of Soviet industrialization and insufficient investment in clean technology and energy efficiency. The recent rise in gas prices has not led to the feared decrease in industrial production. Rather, companies invested in energy-saving technology.

The Donetsk-Dnepr industrial region has of the highest levels of water and air pollution in Europe, mainly caused by the operation of antiquated iron, steel and power plants. Air pollution in the large cities has become a major problem, as have inadequate supplies of potable water and inefficient energy use. The situation improved somewhat due to the economic decline in the 1990s. As a signatory to the Kyoto Protocol, Ukraine can trade its emissions certificates to finance investment in the industrial modernization and reduce dependency on energy imports.

In terms of energy consumption per dollar of GDP, Ukraine ranks as of the majority energy-intensive nations in the world. GDP’s energy intensity is nearly nine times higher in Ukraine than the world average. There is thus high potential for improvement both in private households and the corporate sector.

Although environmental objectives are anchored both legally and institutionally, thus far they have been implemented selectively. Despite numerous environmental laws, decrees and regulatory acts, Ukraine lacks a comprehensive national strategy. Because different bodies are responsible for various aspects of environmental protection, coordination and implementation do not always succeed. A drive for sustainability has come both from Ukrainian civil society and the international community. The major donors in this field are the European Union and UNDP; major lenders are the World Bank and EBRD.