[Global Issue+] Russia Claims Sovereignty Over 'Carbon' Emitted from Occupied Territories in Ukraine

"Mixed Diplomatic Strategy to Gain Justification for Merger"
Expected Impact on China-Taiwan Carbon Emission Issues

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunwoo Lee] Ahead of the 27th United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP27) to be held in Egypt on the 7th of next month, countries around the world are showing movements to mutually report reduced carbon emissions. Some countries are also arguing that exceptions should be recognized due to large emissions caused by natural disasters such as wildfires.

Uniquely, Russia is the only country worldwide claiming carbon emissions that it did not produce as its own, reporting an increase in its emissions. Already under global scrutiny due to its invasion of Ukraine, Russia is now drawing even more attention in environmental issues. What is the reason behind Russia reporting increased carbon emissions?

◇Claiming ownership of carbon emissions in occupied Ukrainian territories... Heated debate with Ukraine

[Image source=Yonhap News]

According to the Washington Post (WP) on the 21st (local time), Russia and Ukraine are engaged in a dispute over emission volumes ahead of the COP27 conference.

Russia included the carbon emissions from Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR), the Luhansk People's Republic (LPR)?territories forcibly annexed last month under the pretext of referendums?and the Crimean Peninsula, forcibly annexed in 2014, in its national emission reports. Ukraine has protested this, claiming that emissions from these regions belong to itself, leading to a dispute over carbon emission ownership.

It is highly unusual for neighboring countries to dispute carbon emissions by claiming that emissions originated from their own territories. Generally, neighboring countries tend to avoid responsibility and try to reduce their reported emissions, but the opposite situation is unfolding here.

Moreover, at this COP27 conference, a major topic of discussion is expected to be the establishment of a compensation fund where countries with high carbon emissions, which have caused significant climate change, provide reparations to countries suffering from climate change damage. Despite this, Russia insists that carbon emissions from Ukrainian occupied territories, which are not internationally recognized as Russian territory, are its responsibility.

◇Priority on securing territorial claims over emission responsibility... "Russia’s mixed diplomatic strategy"

[Image source=AP Yonhap News]

Russia’s claims are interpreted as an effort to strengthen its territorial sovereignty over the occupied areas in Ukraine. Alex Liabchin, former Ukrainian Deputy Minister of Energy and Ukraine’s representative at climate change conferences, told WP in an interview, "Russia is not interested in climate issues but only in our territory and is doing whatever it takes to legitimize its illegal annexation," adding, "Russia’s mixed diplomatic strategy at UN international meetings aims to have the occupied territories recognized as its own land."

This is not the first time Russia has included carbon emissions from occupied Ukrainian territories in its national emission reports. After the forced annexation of Crimea in 2014, Russia also included Crimea’s emissions in its 2016 UN emission reports. Since then, both Russia and Ukraine have reported emissions from the Crimean region, resulting in overlapping claims.

In fact, emission data is an environmental issue that ideally excludes political and diplomatic concerns as much as possible, but both Russia and Ukraine have politicized the matter, leading the UN to attempt mediation between the two countries. However, negotiations completely broke down after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February.

[Image source=AP Yonhap News]

There are also forecasts that the carbon emission disputes between the two countries could affect other conflict regions. A representative case is Taiwan. Taiwan is currently unable to participate as a representative in climate change agreements due to the "One China" principle asserted by the Chinese government. However, China claims Taiwan as its territory and has consistently excluded Taiwan’s emissions from its reported totals.

Going forward, carbon emissions may be used not only as a matter of tariffs or compensation for climate change victims but also as a tool for territorial sovereignty claims over various regions. Richard Gowan, a UN expert at the International Crisis Group (ICG), stated, "In many conflict regions, whether the UN recognizes a territory as belonging to a particular country provides a strong justification for sovereignty claims regardless of effective control," and predicted, "Carbon issues handled by the UN in the future could be regarded as a kind of guarantee related to annexations and national incorporations."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.