The Main Directorate of the State Tax Service in the Cherkasy region reported that polluting enterprises in the region paid UAH 200.6 million in environmental taxes to the consolidated budget of Ukraine. EcoPolitic decided to analyze local environmental protection programs to determine whether funds from pollution are actually being used to restore the environment.
Sewage tops the list
The regional environmental protection program for 2021–2027 begins with... sewage. Analyzing environmental measures in the regions, EcoPolitics noticed a surprising desire on the part of local authorities to use eco-funds to address issues related to sewage networks. Cherkasy region has become another confirmation of this trend.
Wastewater poses a risk to the environment. This is more a question of maintaining engineering communications, which is not an environmental issue. This convenient excuse is used everywhere to add measures for the reconstruction, construction, and maintenance of sewage facilities to targeted environmental programs.
Under the honest intentions of "Preventing the pollution of land resources and groundwater" in Cherkasy region, we also see the reconstruction of sewage collectors, pumping stations, the purchase of treatment equipment, and even the construction of new elements of the sewage network. The sums involved are tens of millions of hryvnias.
Fragment of Appendix 2 to the Environmental Protection Program of the Cherkasy Region for 2021–2027
Waste management
What is just as harmful as wastewater? That's right – garbage. The region has added the purchase of garbage trucks and containers for waste collection, as well as the construction and reconstruction of solid waste storage sites, to its targeted environmental program. In total, the "garbage" block consists of 67 measures and tasks totaling almost UAH 544 million.
Fragment of Appendix 2 to the Environmental Protection Program of the Cherkasy Region for 2021–2027
"Green" means environmentally friendly
The next notable theme of the events is greening. Everything related to plants seems environmentally friendly by default to the regions. In the Cherkasy region, the regional environmental protection program provides for the creation of green areas and the greening of parks. In Uman, they planned to green the European Alley, Ivangorodskaya Square, and Vokzalnaya Square, and in the village of Rodnikovka, as part of a major renovation, they planned to plant plants on Central Square.
The regional program also included the purchase of equipment for environmental organizations, the installation of air quality monitoring stations, and the eco-modernization of equipment at polluting enterprises. However, this was at their expense.
At lower levels, the trends remain the same.
In the small Cherkaska settlement territorial community, the Environmental Protection Program planned to purchase waste containers and arrange access roads for centralized garbage collection.
Еco-program of the Kaniv City Council also does not neglect the three main “pillars” – sewage, waste management, and landscaping. Among the measures are the reconstruction of sewage systems and treatment facilities, removal of windfall and deadwood, purchase of special equipment for waste removal, as well as arranging flowerbeds and gardens.
In Cherkasy region, environmental protection programs only marginally address actual environmental protection. In fact, thanks to earmarked budgets, communities implement measures that are merely perceived as environmental.
This is a systemic problem, as the list of environmental measures is defined by Cabinet of Ministers Resolution No. 1147 dated September 17, 1996. This document, dating back 30 years, gives communities the green light to objectively inappropriate use of environmental funds.
Landscaping is a matter of municipal improvement, while engineering communications relate to public utilities. As long as communities have no clear restrictions, they will continue to cover budget shortfalls using environmental tax revenues.
EcoPolitic previously explained here why the environmental tax does not work as intended.
You can also find out how environmental funds were spent in Zhytomyr region, Ivano-Frankivsk region and in other regions.
During 2025, business entities paid 5.6 billion UAH of environmental tax into the budget.
