In 2025, the city of Kyiv ranked second in terms of environmental tax payments, trailing only the entire Dnipropetrovsk region. Polluting enterprises registered in the capital paid nearly 18% of Ukraine’s total environmental tax. So while their assets are physically poisoning the environment in the “provinces,” Kyiv spends funds on watering lawns and water supply infrastructure.
EcoPolitics continues its series of articles on the use of environmental taxes in Ukraine’s regions and how environmental care is viewed in different parts of the country. This time, the focus of the article is not a region, but the country’s capital city.
We analyzed its environmental program and found that in Kyiv, as elsewhere, it includes measures for urban improvement, greening, and maintenance of infrastructure. That said, the scale of these measures is truly on a capital city level.
A Little about the environmental tax
As usual, we’ll start with a brief reminder of what the environmental tax is. It is a mandatory payment made by businesses for polluting the environment—air, water, and soil. It is a kind of compensation for damaging the environment.
These funds are distributed between the state budget as well as the budgets of regions and communities where polluting enterprises operate. There, the environmental tax goes into local Funds for the Protection of the Natural Environment (FPNE), from which the money may only be used for environmental protection measures.
However, the actual list of such measures is determined by a rather outdated, although several times amended, Cabinet of Ministers’ resolution No. 1147 from 1996. In essence, it gives communities a loophole to use the environmental tax for purposes that are not strictly environmental. Thus, while enterprises pollute air and water, cities and villages repair sewers and plant flowers. We will not discuss here whether this response to toxic provocation is proportional.
As for Kyiv itself, in 2025 the capital contributed 1 billion UAH in environmental payments. Polluters throughout the country paid a total of 5.6 billion UAH.
The capital’s environmental program
Kyiv’s environmental measures are determined by the integrated targeted program for the city's environmental well-being for 2026–2028. It consists of three sections, and only the first of them contains actual environmental protection measures, which is also reflected in its title.
For all initiatives in the first section, the Kyiv City FPNE is clearly indicated as the funding source. Here are several examples of what the capital plans to spend the environmental tax on:
- city greening measures and installation of irrigation systems – 75 million UAH;
- reconstruction of the Dnipro Water Treatment Plant buildings – over 36.5 million UAH;
- development of land management documentation for protected areas and nature reserves – 32.3 million UAH;
- inspection and clearing of the Lybid River – 60 million UAH;
- clearing and improvement of water bodies – another 30 million UAH; an additional 3 million UAH is earmarked for similar measures in parks;
- conducting scientific activities on biodiversity – UAH 4.1 million. An additional UAH 1.5 million will be allocated for research within the nature reserve fund;
A billion for greening
Greening efforts and plant maintenance in the capital outweigh the environmental program budgets of some entire regions. Measures for the improvement of the green zone and water fund lands in Kyiv are included in the second section of the environmental well-being program.
The main motivation for including these measures is “adaptation to climate change,” and funding will come from the city budget and other sources. So, how much does the capital plan to spend on trees?
- UAH 734.6 million – for the maintenance of the city’s forest park zone including its renewal and sanitary felling;
- UAH 144.9 million is allocated for “ensuring the organization and coordination of the activities of green economy enterprises.” Thus, “coordination and organization” are considered environmental measures by the Kyiv authorities;
- an additional UAH 166.6 million will be designated for the inspection of green plantings, sanitary pruning, and removal of dead wood;
- UAH 80 million – for growing tree and shrub seedlings;
- UAH 44.7 million – for the purchase of special equipment for improvement works;
- UAH 438.3 million is allocated for the maintenance of parks, squares, and other managed green spaces;
- UAH 419.6 million – for capital repairs of green economy facilities;
- UAH 53 million – for the purchase of planting material;
Environmental pollution
Far more modest funds are allocated for monitoring the state of the environment in Kyiv compared to greening efforts. Here are several measures from this section:
- about UAH 35.2 million is earmarked for the maintenance of the city’s system for gathering and processing environmental data;
- UAH 1.5 million will be spent on acquiring an atomic absorption spectrophotometer, and another UAH 1.6 million – for purchasing automatic water testing equipment TESTA V-16;
- a little over UAH 1 million will go toward sanitary-bacteriological studies of water quality in the city’s bodies of water;
- UAH 44 thousand is planned for toxicological monitoring using the biotesting method;
We remind you that these measures, as well as those specified in the following sections of the environmental well-being program, will be financed from the Kyiv budget and other sources, with no mention of the Environmental Protection Fund.
Preserving ecosystems
This section in Kyiv features numerous measures related to wastewater and beyond. Here are a few of them:
- maintenance and operation of treatment facilities and pumping stations managed by KP "Pleso." Nearly UAH 21 million has been budgeted for this measure;
- almost UAH 33 million will be allocated for the reconstruction of the storm sewage system for the Opechen lakes system;
- an additional UAH 2 million will be allocated for the reconstruction of the “Kharkivski” treatment facilities;
- reconstruction of a transformer substation on Dolobetsky Island. This measure is inexpensive, only UAH 100 thousand.
“Golden” beaches
A whole set of eco-program measures is dedicated to such a high-priority item as equipping beach areas. Of course, people’s comfort is extremely important, and people are also part of nature.
A colossal UAH 525.7 million is allocated for maintaining beaches and recreational areas near water bodies.
An additional UAH 24.6 million in Kyiv will be directed to topping up beaches with sand and planning beach areas. To ensure convenience, nearly UAH 10 million within the environmental well-being program is allocated for purchasing benches, bins, and changing cabins.
Over UAH 2 million has been allocated for the installation of modular toilets on beaches, and more than UAH 21 million for the maintenance of public toilets managed by KP "Pleso".
Nearly UAH 44 million is to be spent in the capital to repair improvement elements in recreational areas near water, with the modest addition of water body cleaning at the end of the event title.
For the environment, the safety of recreation by the water is probably extremely important as well. More than UAH 19.3 million is being allocated for this purpose.
A separate item in the eco-program is the arrangement of a launch site for people with limited mobility. The price tag is UAH 315,000.
A considerable amount of the program focuses on cleaning water bodies, conducting educational environmental activities, and scientific research. However, the improvement measures included in the environmental well-being program highlight the contrast in the capital’s priorities.
