The Power of Civil Society: Building a Sustainable Recovery for Ukraine Four Years into Russia’s Full-Scale War
Build Ukraine Back Better (BUBB) is a European‑Ukrainian civil society platform working for a sustainable, resilient, and future‑oriented recovery of Ukraine. Since 2022, BUBB has brought together more than 50 non‑governmental organisations from 17 European countries—think tanks, CSOs, humanitarian and charity organisations, environmental networks, and associations of municipalities—serving as a space for coordination, exchange, and collective action.
As we mark four years of Russia’s full‑scale invasion and twelve years of Ukraine’s War for Independence, we reaffirm several core messages to our partners and the international community.
1. Our present defines our future
We are at a decisive moment. Russia’s ongoing aggression is not only a war against Ukraine—it is a direct attack on the rules‑based international order and democratic values. It is also a fossil‑fuel‑driven war, funded by revenues from coal, oil, and gas exports.
Ukraine continues to fight with everything it has for survival, freedom, and justice. But this struggle is not Ukraine’s alone. It is a frontline battle for the stability and security of the entire European continent and beyond.
Ukraine is not a passive victim of this war. As a country, we are an active defender, doing everything possible to protect our people and defend our right to exist, wherever Ukrainians live today.
There is no separate “life after the war”. There is only the present—where we must safeguard people, maintain our institutions, preserve the environment, and lay the foundations for a resilient, European future. Investing in sustainability and climate-resilient infrastructure is essential for Ukraine's future and the stability of Europe as a whole.
The prospect of peace depends simultaneously on:
Ukraine’s resilience and self‑defence,
Europe’s and international partners’ strategic support,
continued sanctions against Russian fossil fuels and other war-funding revenues,
consistent progress toward Ukraine’s EU integration, and
preparation for recovery and reconstruction despite the ongoing war struggle.
These efforts must move forward in parallel, not sequentially.
Much of today’s assistance addresses the consequences of Russian aggression. But recovery and reconstruction must also address its root causes, strengthening Ukraine to prevent further harm and ensure long‑term resilience.
All occupied territories of Ukraine remain Ukrainian sovereign territory. Ensuring accountability requires improved access to data, systematic information gathering, monitoring of environmental and infrastructural harm, and holding the occupier responsible in accordance with national and international law.
Supporting and protecting Ukrainian experts, civil society organisations, and activists is more critical than ever. They carry institutional memory, monitor the impacts of war, and help drive Ukraine’s transformation. Their work is fundamental to effective recovery planning, EU integration and international collaboration, demonstrating how the resilience forged in Ukraine under attack can strengthen the entire European continent.
2. What Build Ukraine Back Better Platform achieved since 2022
Over the past four years, BUBB Platform has grown a lot, and its member organisations have demonstrated the pivotal role of the non-governmental sector in shaping a sustainable and resilient recovery.
Building cooperation across Europe
BUBB has become a great example of European‑Ukrainian cooperation, enabling coordinated action, rapid information exchange, joint advocacy, and shared expertise among more than 50 organisations.
Proving that sustainable recovery is not “for later”—it’s needed now
Ukrainians overwhelmingly want to build back better—with cleaner technologies, modern infrastructure, and respect for the environment.
Our members have implemented green reconstruction pilots and started scaling them up in communities across the country, developed tools and methodologies for environmental protection during wartime, and promoted green industrial opportunities for Ukraine.
This work has shown international partners, humanitarian organisations, and people on the ground that sustainable recovery is realistic even under full‑scale war—and essential for long‑term resilience.
Delivering renewable energy solutions for critical infrastructure
BUBB member organisations have advocated for and carried out more than 100 renewable‑energy projects for Ukrainian communities, enabling:
decentralised autonomous power supply,
greater energy security,
reduced dependence on fossil fuels,
reduced electricity bills,
and more resilient essential services.
These community‑based solutions prove that clean energy is indispensable to keeping people safe today and to ensuring a sustainable recovery tomorrow.
3. What Still Needs to Be Addressed
Despite progress, several structural issues require urgent attention from Ukraine’s partners and European institutions.
Embedding sustainability systemically—not symbolically
Sustainability was endorsed at the Ukraine Recovery Conference 2022 in Lugano as one of the seven core principles of Ukraine’s recovery. Yet it remains insufficiently integrated into financial instruments, donor programs, infrastructure planning, and reconstruction decision‑making. This gap is further exacerbated by the lack of transparency surrounding the development of strategic development and recovery plans—such as discussions over the so-called Prosperity Plan.
Priority actions include:
advancing widespread energy efficiency measures for communities,
scaling decentralised renewable energy with storage,
upholding environmental safeguards,
ensuring that do-no-significant-harm principle guides and frames the recovery,
ensuring that new infrastructure projects assess and compare sustainable alternatives transparently.
Supporting Ukraine’s EU integration as a strategic investment in Europe’s security
Ukraine’s path to EU membership is not only a political choice—it is a security imperative for Europe.
To ensure reform progress under wartime conditions, the EU should:
expand technical assistance, advisory missions and expert support,
ensure that the Ukraine Facility and any future instruments rely on clear, achievable, sequenced benchmarks,
keep supporting Ukrainian civil society, which has been driving EU‑related reforms for more than a decade,
promote stronger partnerships with European institutions to support Ukraine’s sustainable reconstruction in line with EU acquis, given the country’s constrained resources and technical capacity,
apply rigorous but achievable and measurable benchmarks across all negotiating areas, including Chapter 27 closure.
Recognising that environmental and climate policies enable—not hinder—economic development
Environmental protection is not a barrier to recovery. It is essential for people’s health, safe water and other natural resources, including agricultural productivity, and resilient infrastructure.
Ukrainians—including in war‑affected regions—consistently express strong support for environmental restoration.
Green sectors of the economy offer new jobs, new industries, and long‑term competitiveness for millions of Ukrainians.
BUBB’s Sustainable Recovery Roadmap outlines practical steps that can be implemented today to ensure that reconstruction brings both social and economic benefits, while protecting people and nature.
Our message to the international community
Ukraine’s recovery is already underway, even as the war continues. It requires:
steadfast support for Ukraine’s defence,
consistent sanctions pressure on Russia,
predictable financing linked to realistic reform goals,
a clear path to full and equal EU membership,
protection and empowerment of civil society, and
a commitment to sustainability as the foundation of peace and resilience.
Building Ukraine Back Better is not a slogan—it is a joint project that implies concrete action today and provides a chance to shape a more secure, sustainable, and resilient future for all of Europe.