European Future of Ukraine: Environment, Energy, and Post-War Reconstruction through the Eyes of Citizens
Based on the results of a nationwide sociological survey conducted in September 2024, we present the main findings and our recommendations for taking into account the opinion of Ukrainians in processes related to environmental and climate reforms, energy policy, post-war reconstruction, and EU accession.
Environment and Climate Change
Despite the war, environment protection remains important for almost all Ukrainians (95.9% of respondents). Most residents of Ukraine have a strong belief that they can personally protect the environment (74.6%).
Ukrainians also demonstrate a willingness to participate in specific environmental initiatives, such as planting trees, helping animals, dissemi-nating environmental information and cleaning up garbage in green areas. Among the current environmental practices, the most common among Ukrainians are reducing energy consumption and sorting waste (63.0% and 52.2%, respectively).
As to the most important environmental problems, Ukrainians mention water and air pollution (68.4% and 59.0%, respectively). 89.6% of respondents believe that the environmental situation in Ukraine deteriorated during the war.
The biggest environmental problem associated with Russia’s armed aggression against Ukraine remains the mine contamination of territories.
74.2% of Ukrainians consider climate change a serious problem, and 92.1% believe that they have personally experienced its consequences. Youngest-old and middle-old people, as well as women, are most affected by climate change.
In 2024, 92.4% of respondents believe that environmental problems have a direct daily impact on their lives (in 2023, they were 87.4%).
94.5% of respondents support the statement that “big polluters should bear the main responsibility to correct the damage they cause to the environment.”
The main sources of environmental information are social networks (55.4%), Internet media (54.1%), and Telegram and Viber channels (44.2%).
Energy
Analysis of sociological surveys from 2022 and 2024 highlights some changes in the priorities of Ukrainians. Despite the growing interest in the affordability of gas, electricity and heating prices for the population, the share of respondents supporting actions for energy independence has significantly decreased. In 2022, the topic of energy independence attracted the attention of more than half of the respondents (54%), while in 2024 this figure decreased to 38.3%. At the same time, the issue of affordability of energy prices remains consistently important for most citizens (57.4% in 2024 versus 54% in 2022).
To ensure a stable energy supply, most Ukrainians prioritize work on rapid recovery (47.5%) and strengthening the protection of energy facilities from attacks (43.5%), giving less importance to the development of renewable sources or the construction of new power plants.
57.7% of respondents consider damage to infrastructure by targeted attacks of the Russian Federation to be the main cause of power outages. At the same time, 15.4% of Ukrainians attribute the deficit to the export of electricity abroad, another 18.7% believe in the deliberate creation of a deficit to raise prices, which indicates the significant impact of Russian disinformation and the lack of efforts to communicate truthfully.
To reduce the consequences of outages, Ukrainians prioritize repair works at critical inf rastructure facilities (41.4%) and provision of their backup power (40.9%), as well as direct support for the installation (38.9%); well- managed outage schedules were prioritized by 30.1% of respondents, while energy efficiency recommendations – by 24.4%.
As few as 5.6% of Ukrainians participate in government energy efficiency programs, which indicates both a lack of awareness and a low level of coverage of such programs. Residents of the West and Center of Ukraine, as well as respondents with higher incomes, are most aware of these programs.
Ukrainians are preparing for winter time through relatively affordable solutions, such as the purchase of flashlights (73.3%), power banks (67.3%), candles and kerosene lamps (55.5%); about 30% insulated their homes, stockpiled water and warm clothes, and 18-20% of respondents purchased power generators, heaters or other autonomous heating devices.
Post-War Reconstruction
The anti-corruption effort remains a priority of post-war reconstruction for Ukrainian people: 50.6% give it the greatest weight (compared to the beginning of the year, this figure has significantly decreased from 68.9% to 50.6%). Over the past year, the importance of taking into account the opinion of communities and citizens in the reconstruction processes has increased from 31.4% to 40.5%.
According to the respondents, the reconstruction of cities and housing should be carried out on the premises of safety, energy efficiency, and eco- friendliness. The pace of reconstruction and its cost are less important for the residents of Ukraine.
Residents of Ukraine do not support the rebuilding of enterprises as they used to be. Instead, the majority believe that new, but state-of-the-art, modernized, and environmentally f riendly enterprises should be built (60.7%).
Ukrainians see the post-war development of the energy sector as a combination of two areas: an increase in domestic production of gas, coal, and oil (62.7%) and the development of alternative energy sources (61.8%). Nuclear power development and energy efficiency measures have not found significant support among respondents (32.7% and 36.2%, respectively).
Restoration of natural environment (forests, reserves) is an important area for post-war reconstruction for all residents of Ukraine (97.6%).
In general, respondents mostly support a cautious approach to the reconstruction of the Kakhovka HPP: the decision on reconstruction should be made only after a comprehensive needs assessment of the region, including water supply (40.8%).
European Integration
Compared to 2022, the awareness of Ukrainians about the European Green Deal has decreased: a third of Ukrainians hesitate to respond. The most informed are young people aged 18-29 and high- income individuals: 27.6% and 27.4%, respectively.
Over the past year, citizens’ awareness of joining the EU has decreased. Most of all, information is lacking about the impact of reforms on citizens and the benefits they will receive from accession (66.5% and 62.0%, respectively, do not have sufficient information). Only 43.8% answered in the affirmative that they are receiving enough information about the EU accession process in general.
According to the respondents, the main benefit of joining the EU for Ukraine will be to reduce corruption and increase government transparency (52.5%). However, regional differences are huge. 22.8% of residents of the South of Ukraine believe that Ukraine will not receive any benefits from joining the EU.
Almost half of Ukraine’s residents are ready to bear the costs associated with increased environmental requirements followng the EU accession (46%). However, the vast majority of them (29.4%) are ready for this only after the end of the war.
Recommendations
- The key recommendation is to significantly increase citizens’ awareness of the challenges that Ukraine faces on a daily basis, and steps to overcome them. This includes informing about the current situation in the energy sector, EU accession, and post-war reconstruction. Big additional effort is needed to increase awareness of the EU accession of people without higher education and with low incomes. This is a task for the Government as a whole, and for each state agency in particular.
- Given the growing interest of citizens in reconstruction processes, proactive approaches shall be developed and implemented to identify citizens’ opinions and involve them in reconstruction planning, from plans to specific reconstruction projects.
- Continuous monitoring and readiness to counteract inimical information campaigns are needed: low awareness of citizens about EU accession, energy, or environmental problems make them vulnerable to disinformation and manipulation by russia and opponents of EU accession. It is necessary to ex- pand campaigns that inform about the reasons for outages, in particular among the older population, to counter disinformation.
- To stimulate participation in energy efficiency programs and promote them through social and regional media. Moreover, it is necessary to actively seek additional financial resources to scale up and expand the coverage of such programs, both for existing categories of recipients and for new ones.
- To make power outage schedules more transparent, provide access to this information in a convenient and timely manner, especially for older people.
- When developing the Roadmap for Gradual Liber- alization of Gas and Electricity Markets envisaged by the Ukraine Plan within the Ukraine Facility, to arrange a proper public discussion of steps to ensure adequate protection of vulnerable consumers and a better targeting of the new subsidy system.
- It is necessary to actively explain each reform that leads to full EU membership, combining the effort with sectoral action on a technical level. The benefits of joining the EU for the everyday life of Ukrainians should be promoted among the population.
This policy brief presents the analysis of the findings of the public opinion survey on Ukraine’s post- war green reconstruction, the attitudes towards the environment and energy during the war, and the EU accession. The paper outlines key trends in the attitudes of Ukrainian people to the environment, energy, and EU accession during the war, and the vision for Ukraine’s future. It also includes certain comparisons with the data of nationwide sociological surveys from the previous years.
The publication was prepared with the financial support of the European Union within the project “Integration of Sustainable Development in Ukraine in line with the European Green Deal”. The project is implemented by a consortium of NGOs: DIXI GROUP (coordinator), Resource and Analysis Center “Society and Environment,” Association “Energy Efficient Cities of Ukraine,” “Ukrainian Leadership Academy,” “Women’s Energy Club of Ukraine,” “DZYGA,” and “PLATO.”
The content of the publication is the sole responsibility of the “Resource and Analysis Center “Society and Environment” NGO and the “DIXI GROUP” NGO, and does not necessarily reflect the position of the European Union.
The sociological survey was made possible thanks to the co-financing of the Center for Liberal Modernity (Zentrum Liberale Moderne) within the project “Ukraine in Europe – German-Ukrainian Parliamentary Dialogue, Strengthening Competence on Ukraine in Germany and Promoting European Integration of Ukraine”.
The copyright for this policy brief shall be held by the “Resource and Analysis Center “Society and Environment” NGO and “DIXI GROUP” NGO. Any use, without written consent, apart from generally accepted scientific rules of citation, of information reflecting the content of this research note, shall be prohibited. To quote as: “The European future of Ukraine: environment, energy and post-war reconstruction through the eyes of citizens. Policy Brief. – Resource and Analysis Center “Society and Environment”, DIXI GROUP (2024).”
