At the COP30 climate summit in Belém, Brazil, Ukraine announced it will demand nearly $44 billion from Russia as compensation for environmental damage tied to the war.
What Ukraine Is Claiming
Deputy Minister Pavlo Kartashov said the request covers additional greenhouse-gas emissions resulting from military operations, such as the burning of fossil fuels, use of steel and cement, and widespread deforestation due to wartime fires. Independent estimates attribute about 237 million tonnes of extra CO₂-equivalent emissions to the war — a volume comparable to the annual emissions of several European countries.
Legal Basis and Mechanism
Ukraine plans to submit its claim via a new compensation process under the Council of Europe, where a Register of Damage has been established to assess environmental and other wartime losses.
The country aims to base its calculation on the social cost of carbon, which helps quantify climate damages in monetary terms.
The claim is underpinned by a recent advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which affirmed that states may be held accountable for significant climate damage resulting from unlawful actions.
Why This Is Historic
- This would be the first time any country has formally sought compensation for climate-warming emissions caused by a military conflict.
- According to the Initiative on Greenhouse Gas Accounting of War (IGGAW), the war reduced Ukraine’s capacity to absorb carbon — both because of destroyed forests and the emissions from conflict.
- Activists and experts argue that if successful, the case could set a global precedent: nations may increasingly be held financially responsible for the climate impacts of armed aggression.
Challenges Ahead
- It is unclear where compensation would come from: one suggested source is frozen Russian assets, but legal and political obstacles remain.
- Establishing liability and enforcing climate reparations in a war context is unprecedented, raising complex legal and geopolitical questions.
