The reporting of greenhouse gas emissions to the United Nations is a seemingly innocuous, bureaucratic task undertaken annually by all developed nations. However, Russia has utilized emissions reporting as a tool in seeking to legitimize its claims over illegally annexed Ukrainian territory. In today’s blog, we will expand on our discussion of the dispute between Russia and Ukraine over emissions reporting, and discuss how the United Nations’ handling of the situation has tacitly lent legitimacy to Russian territorial aggression in Ukraine.

In addition to grave human costs, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has created alarming environmental consequences, with impacts that extend far beyond the Ukrainian border and will last for generations to come. In today’s blog, we examine the environmental impacts of the war, although the scale of the damage is hard to fully track due to serious shortcomings in global emissions reporting mechanisms.