At the COP29 climate summit, Russia tried to legalize the occupation of Ukraine

At this week's COP29 climate summit, Russia included the annexed Ukrainian territories in its report on greenhouse gas emissions. Ukrainian officials accused Moscow of trying to legalize the occupation through international climate platforms.

According to Reuters, Russia has submitted a report to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) for 2022, in which it indicated that it could not provide complete data on land use in the annexed territories of Donbas, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson. Moscow also continues to include data from Crimea, annexed in 2014, in its reports. Ukraine called such actions of the Russian Federation a violation of sovereignty and international law.

We see that Russia is trying to use international platforms to legitimize its occupation," said Deputy Minister of Ecology of Ukraine Olha Yukhymchuk.

In her speech at the COP29 summit, Ukraine's Minister of Ecology Svitlana Hrynchuk noted that Russia's inclusion of the annexed territories in its report creates a risk of double counting emissions, which could undermine efforts to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement.

"These territories are larger than Portugal or Azerbaijan. Without proper accounting, we may find ourselves in a situation where our climate goals become unattainable," emphasized Yukhymchuk.

Christina Voight, a law professor at the University of Oslo, said that Russia's actions violate the international legal status of the territories. She warned that Russia could use the annexed lands to obtain "carbon credits" on emission markets, which would be an illegal appropriation of the resources of another state.

"This is not only a violation of sovereignty, but also a risky practice for climate markets," Voight summarized.

Experts emphasize that war and geopolitical tensions are increasingly affecting global climate negotiations.

"We live in a world where conflicts are even infiltrating discussions on climate change," said Nikki Reisch, director of the Center for International Environmental Law .

TheUN has not yet commented on the situation, but Ukraine has called on the organization to address the issue to avoid undermining international climate efforts.

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