Watch Now | Rebuilding Ukraine: Energy Infrastructure and Energy Security
As we near the one-year mark of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, IGS Senior Research Scientist Darrick Evensen discusses the recently published Boston University Institute for Global Sustainability (IGS) whitepaper, Energy Security, Climate Change, and the Future of Ukraine Reconstruction. Hosted by IGS on February 10, 2023, as part of its Research for People & Planet webinar series.
“You’re not going to have a bounceback of industry unless you have the energy resources there to support it.” — Darrick Evensen, IGS Senior Research Scientist and co-author of “Energy Security, Climate Change, and the Future of Ukraine Reconstruction”.
Key Takeaways
Russia has targeted Ukrainian energy infrastructure to disable and demoralize the country.
Energy infrastructure damage is small relative to overall damage. Still, massive investments of over $200 billion are required to finance a new approach to energy production, consumption, and security in the country.
There were energy challenges before the war, including inefficient district heating, poorly insulated housing, reliance on Russian nuclear fuel and gas supplies, limited renewable energy production, a lack of decentralized power options, the location of solar and wind power in the south, and security concerns associated with nuclear power.
With a goal of building back better, Ukraine will need to make major decisions about what energy-efficient measures to adopt moving forward, including diversifying and decentralizing energy sources, as well as severing its reliance on Russia and joining up with the European Union.
Watch now to learn more about possible opportunities and approaches to recovery: