Precedent. Ukraine to bill Russia for $44 billion for war-related emissions

Ukraine is planning to file a lawsuit against Russia to recover nearly $44 billion in damages related to increased emissions as a result of the war. This was reported by Reuters Deputy Economy Minister Pavlo Kartashov on the sidelines of the COP30 climate summit in Brazil.

"A lot of damage has been done to water, land, forests. We have a huge amount of additional CO2 and greenhouse gas emissions," he said .

The agency emphasized that this is the first time that a country has claimed damages for increased emissions.

Lennard de Klerk, a carbon accounting expert from the Netherlands, estimated that the war caused approximately 237 million tons of additional CO2 equivalent emissions, almost equal to the annual emissions of Ireland, Belgium, and Austria combined. He helped Ukraine prepare the claim.

According to De Klerk, Ukraine is preparing to file a lawsuit through a new compensation process being introduced by the Council of Europe. He suggested that frozen Russian assets could be used to pay compensation.

• The Secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) has for the first time predicted a decrease in global greenhouse gas emissions. The expected reduction is 10% by 2035 compared to 2019. But to keep global warming within 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, a 60% reduction is needed.
• EU has agreed on a climate goal by 2040, with conditions for easing.