When Russian air strikes knocked out Ukrainian power plants across the country earlier this year, most of the Black Sea port city of Mykolaiv in southeastern Ukraine was unable to pump fresh water to the city’s housing blocs. But in an easterly suburb of Mykolaiv, drinking water flowed from kitchen taps, as it has since last year thanks to a small off-grid solar field tucked inconspicuously into its midst. Paul Hockenos reports. Read More
All posts tagged: Ukraine
Nowhere does new nuclear make less sense than Ukraine
Nuclear installations undermine Ukraine’s security because it is particularly vulnerable to drone and artillery attacks. Yet Kyiv wants more of it, despite the fact that so much speaks for renewables to replace damaged conventional energy facilities. Paul Hockenos reports.
Stopping Russian aggression means rejecting its fossil fuel exports – and, ultimately, switching to renewables
Three years after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Paul Hockenos compares the efforts of the EU and the US in view of weaning from Russian fossil fuels. On the ground, Ukraine’s transition to distributed renewables already rhymes with resilience against the aggressor.
Decentralizing Ukraine’s energy future: microgrids as a path to independence
Ukraine’s energy landscape has been profoundly impacted by the ongoing conflict, with extensive damage to infrastructure and a historical reliance on Russian imports for traditional energy sources like coal, gas and nuclear fuel. Rebuilding the centralized, Soviet-era energy system is no longer a viable option. Attempts to restore a fossil fuel or nuclear-based centralized sector are fraught with military risks, slow progress, high costs for the state and lack of appeal for private investors wary of vulnerable, high-risk assets. Razom We Stand reports.
Rebuilding Ukraine’s energy future: a Ukrainian perspective of the Ukraine Reconstruction Conference
Fuelling change: Europe’s battle against Russian fossil fuels
Following the EU’s parliamentary elections on 6-9 June 2024 and with the war in Ukraine showing no sign of slowing, a pressing issue demands attention: the EU’s continuing active participation in, and facilitation of, Russia’s fossil fuel shipping and exports. This article delves into critical analysis and proposes strategies for reducing dependency on, and support of, the Russian fossil fuel industry, supported by data and statistics highlighting the impact of these exports on the Russian economy, the war in Ukraine and the global climate crisis.
Ukraine’s recovery will also be an example of sustainability – but don’t leave Ukraine out of that recovery
In Part 2/3, we considered the inability of politics and consumer behaviour to move at the speed and systems level the climate and sustainability emergency needs. For Ukraine and the world, the most progressive and bold businesses, combined with finance and braver politicians and activists, will need to show that sustainability works on all fronts – across the environment, for people and economically – to pull policymaking, the public and the rest of industry into alignment with the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Part 1/3 considered how the whole world can maximize the Ukraine 2.0 vision, built on the research and convening of Razom We Stand. Josh Matthews reports. Read More
Ukraine’s recovery will also be an example of sustainability – but business and finance must make up for the limited power of politics
In Part 1/3, we considered that despite Ukraine being poised, in its post-war recovery, to contribute to the systems-level change sustainability needs, that the world’s boldness will determine just how fast and global that systemic effect could be. Razom We Stand, in an event that led up to the Ukraine Recovery Conference in London this summer, amplified how Ukraine is set to show that sustainability and, in particular, the energy transition should work across environmental, people and economic fronts. Josh Matthews reports. Read More
Ukraine’s recovery will also be an example of sustainability – but the world’s boldness will determine its speed and scale
The first of three pieces highlighting the potential of Ukraine’s post-war recovery to pioneer sustainability – especially the energy transition – but warning against complacency. Part 2 focuses on business and finance, and Part 3 highlights the risk of leaving Ukraine out of its own recovery. Josh Matthews reports. Read More
Russian assault on Ukraine’s nuclear power stations: “An hour away from nuclear meltdown”
At the Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung in Berlin, several international experts including two from Ukraine, underscored the precarious events unfolding at Ukraine’s nuclear power stations, among them the Zaporizhzhia complex, the largest nuclear power facility in Europe.