Last year, environmental spending in our country reached only $1.1 billion due to the full-scale war started by the Russian Federation.
This was reported by GMK Center, an analytical center, based on data from the State Statistics Service of Ukraine and its own calculations.
The analysts said that in pre-war 2021, environmental spending was also at $1.1 billion, but dropped to $746 million in 2022. Capital investment also declined, from $517 million to $199 million, respectively. According to experts, these volumes began to gradually recover in the following years. Thus, in 2024, current expenditures amounted to $864 million, and capital investments – $194 million.
If we look at the industry breakdown, the top 5 industries last year were:
- water supply and waste management – 43.2%;
- metal ore mining – 19%;
- metallurgy – 8.6%;
- electricity and gas supply – 6%;
- coke and refined products production – 4.5%.
Infographics: GMK.center.
The mining and metals sector was one of the leaders in terms of environmental costs. It accounted for 27.5% of the total amount of $1.1 billion. In particular, environmental costs in metal ore mining accounted for 19% of total environmental costs in Ukraine, while the share of metallurgy was 8.6%.
In absolute terms, the environmental costs of metal ore mining companies increased by 12% in 2024 compared to 2022, to $202 million.
The same indicator in the steel industry decreased from $130 million in 2022 to $90 million in 2024. This is primarily due to the loss of assets as a result of the war and the decline in economic activity. Last year, total capital investments in environmental protection in the metal ore mining and metallurgy sectors amounted to $38.2 million and $42.2 million, respectively.
GMK Center's infographic also shows the distribution of last year's capital investments in environmental protection by type of environmental activity for the metal ore mining and steel production sectors.
In late May, EcoPolitic prepared a large article on how the Ukrainian steel industry is decarbonizing during the war.
