healthier, happier and richer

Total national greenhouse gas emissions as a percentage of global total, 2004 figures

1%

Historical contribution – 1850 to 2000

2%

Change in annual greenhouse gas emissions 1990 to 2006

– 51.9%

2005 per capita annual greenhouse gas emissions

10.3 tonnes (without land use change, though this is not a major proportion of Ukraine’s emissions).

Balance of energy sources, 2007

	%
Gas	41
Coal	29.5
Nuclear	17.5
Oil	11
Hydro	0.6
Renewables	0.5

Energy security

Ukraine has the world’s seventh largest coal reserves (3.8% of total known reserves). It also has substantial gas reserves and is the third largest gas producer in Europe (and the fourth largest gas market). Around a fifth of the gas used in the EU is imported from Russia through Ukraine. In January 2009, Russia turned this off for two weeks, meaning that many Europeans had no source of heating.

“Public discussion in western Europe has turned to Ukraine as a transit country – through which more than four-fifths of Russian gas exports to Europe pass – when its disputes with Russia have threatened to interrupt supply. The Ukrainian gas sector is important for other reasons, however. Ukraine is not only the most important transit country for Russian gas, but is also a significant gas producer in its own right with an output of 18–20 billion cubic metres (bcm) per year in the post-Soviet period and the potential to increase it. Ukraine is also the largest Confederation of Independent States (CIS) gas consumer after Russia: it consumes 70–80 bcm/year. By common consent this is far too high a figure, and a significant drain on the Ukrainian economy.

“What most sharply distinguished Ukraine’s slump from Russia’s was that it was aggravated by dependence on Russian imports of energy: specifically, gas. In Soviet times, cheap Russian gas had been used to subsidize industry and to provide heat and fuel to the population, in Ukraine as elsewhere. The break-up of the USSR and integration into the world market disrupted all such arrangements.

“Ukraine has the most energy-intensive economy in the world … Inefficient consumption of cheap gas and an overdependence on (particularly imported) gas are an integral part of this problem. In 2005, Ukraine consumed 73 bcm of gas, an amount similar to Japan, Italy, Saudi Arabia or the entire African continent.“

(See Oxford Institute for Energy Studies: Ukraine’s Gas Sector.)

Electricity generated, 2007

	%
Nuclear	47
Coal	34
Gas	13
Hydro	5.25
Oil	0.4
Renewables	0.03

Installed wind capacity

2008               90Mw

Electricity – supply and demand

“Starting from 2000 electricity production and consumption have been growing due to economic recovery. Electricity production surplus enabled export to neighbouring countries … However, export capabilities are limited by the lack of investments in modernization of the power networks, which results in network interference… The export of electricity to Russia heavily depends on the political relations between Ukrainian and Russian authorities.

“Despite of the fact that currently Ukraine is a net exporter of electricity, the production capacities in electricity sector are outdated: 95% of power units have worked out their useful life; the residual life of thermal power plants is 5-7 years. This poses a problem for the future electricity supply in Ukraine.

“The growing demand for electricity cannot be satisfied using the old transmission and distribution networks.”

(See CASE: Overview of Electricity Market in Ukraine.)

Fuels used for heat, 2007

	%
Gas	97.5
Coal	2.5

Percentage of agriculture certified as organic

0.58%

Cars per thousand of population

98