Pragmatically Integrating Sustainability Into the Reconstruction of Ukraine

This briefing by the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) discusses the integration of sustainability and energy efficiency into the reconstruction of Ukraine's building sector, drawing on lessons from post-disaster recoveries in Bosnia and Croatia.

• The financial scale of the damage caused by Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine over two years is estimated at USD 155 billion in direct damage and USD 499 billion in economic losses, with a 10-year reconstruction plan estimated to cost over USD 486 billion.
• Ukraine can avoid previous European recovery mistakes by ensuring local ownership and strategic planning, contrasting with the reconstruction of Bosnia which suffered from inefficient planning and a lack of local ownership, and Croatia, which failed to scale up building modernization after 2020 earthquakes due to inefficient financial support schemes.
• While the ongoing war creates unpredictability and concerns over costs and payback periods, there is immediate potential to integrate energy-efficiency measures into the reconstruction of residential buildings to make the economy and society more inclusive and climate resilient.

APA

Soman,, S. (2024). Pragmatically Integrating Sustainability Into the Reconstruction of Ukraine. International Institute for Sustainable Development. https://www.iisd.org/publications/commentary/integrating-sustainability-into-ukraine-reconstruction

Chicago

Soman,, Samuel. Pragmatically Integrating Sustainability Into the Reconstruction of Ukraine. International Institute for Sustainable Development, 2024. https://www.iisd.org/publications/commentary/integrating-sustainability-into-ukraine-reconstruction.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Soman, |first1=Samuel |title=Pragmatically Integrating Sustainability Into the Reconstruction of Ukraine |publisher=International Institute for Sustainable Development |date=6 June 2024 |url=https://www.iisd.org/publications/commentary/integrating-sustainability-into-ukraine-reconstruction |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{soman2024pragmatically, author = {Soman,, Samuel}, title = {{Pragmatically Integrating Sustainability Into the Reconstruction of Ukraine}}, institution = {International Institute for Sustainable Development}, year = {2024}, month = jun, url = {https://www.iisd.org/publications/commentary/integrating-sustainability-into-ukraine-reconstruction}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }