How green can Ukraine’s recovery really be?
Source: https://genevasolutions.news/climate/how-green-can-ukraine-s-recovery-really-be
Author: Michelle Langrand
The war has taken a toll on Ukraine’s environment, polluting soils and rivers for decades to come. As Ukraine launched a reconstruction process at the Ukraine Recovery Conference, the commitment to restore ecosystems and rebuild the country in a green way was in everyone’s lips. But with an economy heavily dependent on polluting industries, European countries rushing to cut oil and gas dependency on Russia and billions of dollars in infrastructure damage to repair, the environment might just be put on the back burner. As oil prices continue to soar and Russia threatens to close the gas tap on Europe, plans to shift to renewable energies might be derailed. On Wednesday, the European Parliament voted to consider gas and nuclear investments as green. Despite being considered the cleanest of fossil fuels, producing half as much greenhouse gas emissions as coal, natural gas is still an important contributor to climate change.