Dr Ievgeniia Kopytsia

Dr Ievgeniia Kopytsia is a law scholar specialising in environmental, climate and energy law from international, EU and Ukrainian perspectives.

Dr Ievgeniia Kopytsia joined the Law Faculty of the University of Oxford in April 2023 as a British Academy RaR fellow with her research focusing on climate change and net zero legal dilemmas in the poly-crises era.

Dr Ievgeniia Kopytsia also serves as an Associate Professor at Yaroslav Mudryi National Law University, where she leads "Sustainable Law and Policy Research Centre" and coordinates Europe-Ukraine Energy Transition Hub - an international consortium aiming to leverage the green reconstruction of Ukraine and provide support to strengthen Ukraine’s governance, regulatory frameworks, and market mechanisms in the field of energy, sustainability, and climate action.

Throughout her career, she has taught at Ukrainian and EU universities, extending her expertise to advising policymakers and businesses as well as speaking engagements at various international conferences, seminars and summer schools on climate mitigation and adaptation, sustainable development, green recovery, and green transition.

As an accomplished author and co-author, Ievgeniia has contributed to textbooks, study guides, and over 20 articles delving into legal aspects related to environmental protection, climate change mitigation and adaptation, as well as energy law and policy, within the frameworks of Ukrainian EU, and international law.

As an Associate of Oxford Net Zero she works directly with fellow researchers in investigating equitable pathways for reaching net zero and assessing how conflict-affected countries’ considerations remain overlooked.

Her on-ground participation at COP28 included co-organizing a high-level panel discussion on challenges that conflict-affected countries face. Held at Ukraine’s country pavillion, these sessions featured the leading climate voices of Myles Allen, Alok Sharma, Fiona Harvey, spotlighting discussions around and disconnecting between soaring multilateral ambitions and insufficient accountability.

Recent Publications: 

Zagoruichyk, A., Savytskyi, O., Kopytsia, I., O'Callaghan, B. (2023). The Green Phoenix Framework: Climate-positive Plan for Economic Recovery of Ukraine. Smith School Working Paper 23-03. https://www.smithschool.ox.ac.uk/sites/default/files/2023-06/The-Green-Phoenix-Framework-a-climate-positive-plan-for-economic-recovery-in-Ukraine.pdf