Introducing Italian air monitoring technologies in Ukraine and combining our practices for the green recovery of Ukraine

Svitlana Grinchuk, Minister of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine, and Carlo Formosa, Ambassador of the Republic of Italy, discussed the current areas of cooperation between Ukraine and Italy  environmental protection and climate change. Italy has a number of technological developments that are extremely interesting for us.

The parties focused on environmental monitoring and touched upon the recent case of air pollution in the capital due to peat burning.

‘Air monitoring is very important – both for such emergencies and for documenting Russian acts of ecocide on the territory of Ukraine. Italian monitoring technologies are among the best in the European Union. In 2023, our Ministries signed a Memorandum of Cooperation in several environmental areas. There are already agreements within the document, so we are looking forward to the practical results of negotiations on establishing Italian reference laboratories for air quality monitoring in Ukraine,’ said Svitlana Grinchuk.

Svitlana Grinchuk and Carlo Formosa also discussed Italian practices in waste management, in particular plastic. Mr Formosa spoke about the success of investments in Italian factories producing eco-friendly packaging. This experience is relevant for Ukraine at the stage of implementing waste management reform.

‘Italy is one of Ukraine’s strongest partners in the fight against Russian armed aggression, so Ukraine’s environmental agenda is not ignored in the international arena. Today, it is important to expand the geography of support for Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s Peace Formula and its Clause 8 on environmental safety,’ Svitlana Hrynchuk emphasised.

The head of the Ministry of Environment and the Italian Ambassador exchanged views on the upcoming Ukraine Recovery Conference 2025. ‘Italy is a powerful ally on this path, in particular in the area of post-war green recovery, so we look forward to strengthening our initiatives within #URC2025.

‘I thank Ambassador Carlo Formosa for a fruitful conversation. I hope that our meeting will soon be followed up in practice,’ summed up Svitlana Hrynchuk.