Svetlana Grinchuk: Climate resilience amidst war – Ukraine's three priorities at COP29 in Baku.

From November 11 to 22, the annual UN Climate Change Conference COP29 took place in Baku. At first glance, one might think that for a country caught in the turmoil of war, this event is "irrelevant," and discussions about climate issues are out of place. However, this opinion is incorrect.

For Ukraine, participating in the summit was crucial—despite the war and even because of it. We had at least three compelling reasons to join this conference.

First, it was an opportunity to remind the world about the events happening in Ukraine. The conference gathered more than 50,000 participants from 196 countries, over 2,000 observer organizations, and more than a thousand representatives from global media—this was our chance to tell the truth, to be heard, and to attract new partners to implement the eighth point of President Volodymyr Zelensky's Peace Formula: "Environmental safety."

More than 60 countries and international organizations are already collaborating with Ukraine on this issue, solidifying their intentions and next steps in a joint communiqué signed in Helsinki.

Our goal is to expand our circle of allies. At the current UN Conference, Ukraine's event on the eighth point of the Peace Formula attracted over 120 participants, including international politicians, officials, civil society, and media. All of them emphasized the critical importance of maintaining ecological safety and the need for decisive actions to achieve these goals.

Ambassadors and representatives from partner countries such as the EU, the USA, Sweden, Estonia, Croatia, Romania, Poland, Finland, Lithuania, Germany, UNEP, UNECE, OECD, IRENA, and others expressed their support for Ukraine's efforts to end the war and restore the environment and justice.

While the world grapples with the climate crisis, Ukraine is facing Russian aggression, the consequences of which have global implications. Since February 2022, hostilities in Ukraine have resulted in an additional estimated 180 million tons of CO2 emissions. During the full-scale invasion, over six million Ukrainians sought temporary protection in European countries, leading to an additional 3.3 million tons of CO2 emissions.

Due to military actions and wildfires, the potential for Ukrainian forests to absorb greenhouse gases has decreased by 1.7 million tons. In other words, Russia's criminal war could undermine global efforts to combat climate change. This was also highlighted by us to the global media during a press conference organized to mark 1000 days of war in Ukraine.

Climate resilience despite war: three priorities for Ukraine at COP29 in Baku. The Ukrainian pavilion fulfilled its mission at COP29. It was a symbol of global unity around Ukraine. In total, there were 30+ interviews with global media, 50+ events within the pavilion with more than 1,000 participants, and over 7,000 visitors to our pavilion—results of the work of a large and coordinated team.

The pavilion featured virtual reality zones where visitors could see the forests and fields destroyed by Russia, fly over the site of the greatest ecological disaster—the Kakhovka Reservoir—and witness the miracle of its natural recovery. Throughout the pavilion's operation, the VR zone attracted around 1,000 viewers, all of whom were struck by the footage.

We also showcased Ukraine as a center for green innovations, ecological solutions, and digital transformations, where new projects are born—amidst and against the backdrop of war.

On walls made of eco-paper with live seeds, we depicted 50 key environmental initiatives from the state, business, and civil society of Ukraine—digital agriculture technologies, developments in renewable energy and demining, startups creating paper from fallen leaves, carbon capture devices, ecological alternatives to foam, mobile printing factories, and other Ukrainian innovations already in use in the USA, the UK, and Japan.

The most sustainable recovery and attracting resources for it is the second reason for Ukraine's participation in COP29. Today, everyone understands that green recovery in Ukraine is impossible without considering the climate agenda. This is the only way we can attract long-term investments.

For Ukraine, as for all participating countries, this was a rich and quite challenging COP. The conference in Baku concluded with agreements among countries on climate financing amounting to $300 billion per year.

Funding is expected to commence in 2026. Financial support will be directed towards implementing activities, projects, and policies to fulfill new nationally determined contributions, plans, and raising ambition levels in combating climate change, etc. As noted by Simon Steil, the Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, the new financial goal should serve as a sort of "insurance policy for humanity."

The question of Ukraine's eligibility for funding under the new collective climate finance goal remains open. We advocate for our position—our country must have access to all sources of climate financing, particularly the Green Climate Fund. Today, Ukraine spends enormous resources to halt the aggressor, so it needs assistance for recovery first and foremost. Our task is to unlock this potential and opportunity for Ukraine.

At COP29, countries finally managed to conclude the negotiations that had been ongoing for the last seven years regarding the full operationalization of Article 6 of the Paris Agreement, concerning market and non-market mechanisms for cooperation in reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Now Ukraine will be able to translate into practical terms the agreements on cooperation with Japan and Switzerland within the framework of Article 6 of the Paris Agreement.

In other words, we will be able to secure funds for implementing our climate plans and projects. We will be able to attract additional investments under Article 6, as well as access financing from international financial institutions for green energy, green recovery, and climate adaptation.

Today, Ukraine is demonstrating to partners that, despite the war, we are adhering to and strengthening our commitments. We have already approved a Climate Law, which sets a goal for the next 25 years—to achieve climate neutrality by 2050 alongside the European Union. We are already developing a long-term strategy for low-carbon development and working on our third Nationally Determined Contribution, which we will present in 2025. We are also working on launching an emissions trading system in accordance with Euro-integration requirements.

This is our political signal—we are ready for change and fruitful collaboration.

The third strategic task at COP29 is to prevent Russia from forcing the world to recognize Ukrainian territories as Russian. Since 2014, the Russian Federation has included emissions from the territory of Crimea in its reports. Under the Paris Agreement, it plans to report emissions from Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia regions as well. Ukraine has blocked and will continue to block the consideration of these documents.

We are monitoring the situation and will provide the UN with information on greenhouse gas emissions from Crimea and all temporarily occupied territories as emissions from Ukraine—emphasizing that this is a sovereign territory of Ukraine. This is fundamentally important. Thus, we continue to work with partners and the legal office of the UN to address this issue.

Overall, the COP program was quite eventful, filled with discussions and activities. During the conference, more than three dozen bilateral meetings were held with representatives of international organizations, American think tanks, ministers, and representatives of the European Commission.

Together with our partners, we discussed a wide range of issues—ranging from climate projects in Ukraine to security situations, green recovery, water supply in Ukrainian territories, forest restoration and biodiversity protection, development of nature parks, green and low-carbon energy, energy resilience and security, distributed green energy, critically important resources, and ecological safety within the framework of Ukraine's peace formula.

For instance, in a meeting with European Commissioner for Climate and Transport Wopke Hoekstra, we discussed Ukraine's integration into EU climate legislation. With US Special Envoy for Climate Rick Duke, we touched on the international and American climate agenda, joint actions, energy resilience, and new financial goals within the UN negotiations in Baku.

During meetings with the environment ministers of Austria, Sweden, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Romania, Moldova, the UK, Denmark, Norway, and Italy, we agreed on further support for Ukraine and specific steps to strengthen cooperation.

With Azerbaijan's Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources Mukhtar Babayev, we signed a Memorandum of Cooperation between our ministries. We will deepen our collaboration in developing environmental technologies, waste management, biodiversity conservation, restoring contaminated lands, preventing industrial pollution, etc. So, a close and fruitful interaction lies ahead between our countries. This is all about unity and joint efforts.

Currently, the words "unity" and "joint efforts" hold even greater significance for our country, where we continue to write the Ukrainian story of resilience and success.