Energy and the environment
Energy sector which embraces primary energy production (mining), processing and transmission components is a very complicated structure of economic, environmental, technological and production subsystems that cause actively impacts on the natural environment. These impacts are widely varied in their specific components as they usually affect different elements of natural environment at a time (atmosphere, hydrosphere, lithosphere, biosphere etc.) and result in different consequences (alienation of affected areas, landscape deterioration, physical damages, chemical and radioactive contamination, thermal, radiation, acoustic influences and other physical effects). These negative impacts become apparent both on the local / regional level and worldwide. Therefore, one of the top priority objectives of the power engineering sector of Ukraine, that is the main line of the sector development, is formation of prerequisites for the sector operators to meet the national demand for primary energy inputs on the one hand and to provide for strict adherence to requirements of efficient use of natural reserves and reduction of the negative environmental effects on the other hand, as required by the international environmental protection covenants signed by Ukraine and by the relevant national social-and-economic development policy priorities, objectives and limitations.
Legislation frameworks
Ukraine has wide-ranging environmental legislation. The most important acts that regulate environmental issues in the energy sector include the Law on Environmental Protection (1991), the Law on Protection of Atmospheric Air (1992) and the Amendments to the Law on Protection of Atmospheric Air (2001).
In 1998, the Verkhovna Rada adopted the decree Principal Directions of State Policy for Environmental Protection, Use of Natural Resources and Ecological Safety. This decree identified the priorities of Ukraine’s environmental policy, which include the following:
Manage air quality in regions with intensive industrial development (mainly Southeastern Ukraine).
Ensure radiation safety and radioactive protection of the population and the environment, and minimize the effects of the Chernobyl catastrophe.
The decree also laid out more specific objectives and measures for improving environmental conditions in several economic sectors, including the energy sector, and housing and communal services. Enhanced monitoring also plays a prominent role.
The Energy Strategy of Ukraine to 2030 draws some attention to the environmental problems associated with energy production, as well as extraction and transportation of coal, oil and gas. It also mentions environmental damage that stems from air pollution, waste generation, inefficient consumption of water and large-scale land-use.
The Energy Strategy to 2030 sets goals concerning specific pollutants and outlines some measures that should be taken to achieve these goals. For example, it states that by 2030, thermal power generation will emit 85.5% less particulates, 30.5% less NOx and 70% less SO2 – even though fuel consumption is expected to increase by 85.9% during the same period. The Energy Strategy to 2030 indicates that particulate emissions will be decreased by reducing the ash content of fuel and by improving the efficiency of power plants and boilers.
The Energy Strategy to 2030 itself provides two positive signs. First, it devotes a separate chapter to summarising major environmental concerns. Second, it discusses further details on environmental issues within the chapters on specific sub-sectors (including thermal power production, coal mining, and oil and gas extraction). The Energy Strategy to 2030 provides encouraging figures on the emission reductions envisioned. However, it does not set a clear roadmap on how it will achieve these reductions.
[Energy Strategy of Ukraine for the period until 2030]
CO2-Emissions
The energy sector is the main source of carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4) emissions in Ukraine, representing 69% of total greenhouse gas emissions (electricity and heat plants alone are responsible for 24% of total CO2 emissions). The combustion of fossil fuels, particularly coal, is the most significant contributor to CO2 emissions. In Ukraine, fuel combustion is responsible for 57% of total greenhouse gas emissions. Fugitive CH4 emissions contribute 12% of total domestic greenhouse gas emissions. Globally, Ukraine ranks 20th in the emissions of CO2 from fuel combustion and 8th in energy-related CH4 emissions. Greenhouse gas emissions in Ukraine decreased through the 1990s, mostly due to the sharp economic decline. Emissions in 2000 (the lowest point in the last 15 years) were about 60% lower than in 1990. Since 2001, greenhouse gas emissions have grown: they were 399 Mt of CO2-equivalent in 2001 and 413 Mt of CO2-equivalent in 2004. In 2004, Ukraine’s total greenhouse gas emissions were 45% of their 1990 level. The energy sector greenhouse gas emissions in 2004 represented 41% of their 1990 level. Both the CO2 emissions from fuel combustion and fugitive CH4 emissions from coal have fallen significantly since 1990. However, fugitive CH4 emissions from oil and gas have dropped by only 25% in the same time period.
In the last decade, the CO2 emissions from the electricity and heat sectors have also dropped because of changes in the energy balance and efforts to improve energy efficiency. The share of natural gas in Ukraine’s TPES increased from 43% in 1993 to 47% in 2004 and the share of nuclear grew from 10.5% to 16% (and is set to increase still more). Coal and oil decreased, respectively, from 30 to 24% and from 16 to 13% over the same period. Without additional policy measures and technological innovations, the country’s greenhouse gas emissions will continue to grow with economic recovery. The Energy Strategy to 2030 envisions a significant increase in coal consumption for electricity and heat production, which will lead to increased greenhouse gas emissions. Changes in Ukraine’s energy intensity will also have a strong, potentially mitigating, influence on emissions.
CO2-Emissions per Capita of Ukraine, other CEE countries, Austria, and the EU 15, 2007
Source: ENERDATA s.a. - WORLD ENERGY DATABASE [2009]
Ukraine has ratified the Kyoto Protocol in February 2004
Air-pollution
By 2008, air pollution in Ukraine’s cities is a major problem. The energy sector in Ukraine is a major contributor to local air pollution. According to the World Bank it’s responsible for 75 percent of emissions of sulphur dioxide (SO2), 50 percent of emissions of particulates, and 45 percent of nitrogen oxides (NOx) emissions. Ukraine’s energy sector also contributes about 70 percent of total domestic emissions of greenhouse gasses (GHGs). FEC enterprises are considered second by capacity (after metallurgy industry) source of pollutant emissions to the atmosphere. According to the data of Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP) of Ukraine, their average part is about 29% of total fine-dispersed dusk, 75% SO2, 27% of ash and 58% of NOx in the total quantity of emissions from stationary sources in the country. Meanwhile more than 80% of all emissions of thermal power plants are from 8 big unit-type TPP, most of them are located in Donetsk-Pridniprovsk region.
Totally, emissions of fine-dispersed dust and nitrogen oxide from domestic TPP and CHPP are correspond to the Ukrainian standards currently in force, which are lower than European. As concerns sulfurous anhydride, this situation is much worse, because planned measures on desulfurization at coal plants were not implemented. However excessive emissions of sulfur anhydride at certain stations are temporarily coordinated with regional units of MEP of Ukraine.
The Law of Ukraine “About atmospheric air protection” (with alterations and supplements from 24.11.2002) and a number of Decrees of Cabinet of Ministry of Ukraine concerning implementation of reduction of maximum permissible emissions of dust, sulfur, nitrogen, and other compounds which are dangerous for human health, initiated transfer to so-called “technological standards” for emissions which are similar to European.
