DiXi Group analyst Olga Polunina spoke at COP 27
At the UN Climate Change Conference (COP27), held November 6 – 18, 2022 in Sharm el-Sheikh (Egypt), Ukraine presents its pavilion for the first time and presents a number of initiatives related to the full-scale invasion of Russia. Ukrainian experts, including the DiXi Group representatives, inform the international community about the damage caused to the environment.
Both individual natural components and ecosystems as a whole experience a significant negative impact. DiXi Group analyst Olha Polunina said this during an online speech as part of the official program of the event organized on November 14 by the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine.
The expert cited many examples of complex damage to the environment. In particular, as a result of the shelling of more than 30 oil depots and fuel warehouses, 144,000 tons of petroleum products were burned, and this caused about 500,000 tons of emissions. As of October 2022, 60,000 hectares of forests were affected by fires during the war in Ukraine. As of November 8, 2022, the Ministry of Environment confirmed the recorded 2,237 cases of environmental destruction and estimated environmental damage at UAH 441 billion.
Earlier, presenting the study “100 days of war: consequences for the Ukrainian environment“, she expressed the opinion that the war affects various components of the environment and that it is a common problem of all states, not only Ukraine. This time, during her speech, she emphasized that other speakers of COP27 reached similar conclusions.
“The impact of Russia’s environmental crimes is not limited to the territory of Ukraine, in some cases, they have a transboundary impact, as polluting substances with air masses or surface and underground waters can be transported over long distances,” Olga Polunina said during her speech.
Olha Polunina also noted that other speakers from the public sector passed through the same challenges when monitoring the consequences of war – lack of calculation methodology, lack of access to information and its verification, difficulty to define transboundary impact, and lack of resources.
The expert is convinced that Russia will definitely pay for all crimes in Ukraine and abroad, including crimes against ecosystems as a whole.
The main initiatives put forward by Ukraine at the COP27 climate summit are the definition of a damage assessment mechanism and sources of funding for damages caused to the environment and climate as a result of the war.
Video recording of the Ukrainian High Level Initiative Global Platform event
