Having a patchy record of compliance with the environmental provisions of the Association Agreement, Ukraine demonstrates alignment with the norms of the European Union’s Green Deal. We explore and explain Ukraine’s reforms in the domain of environment and climate by asking: What drives the Europeanisation of Ukraine’s environmental and climate policy and why? To answer this question, we analyse Ukrainian laws, by-laws, and policy documents from 2016 until mid-2023, when we concluded our observations. We demonstrate that conditionality-based instrumental compliance and forward-looking anticipatory compliance are two mechanisms of Europeanisation of environmental and climate policy in Ukraine which reinforce and complement one another. We also show that, aspiring to become a European Union member state, Ukraine does comply with the provisions of the Association Agreement. Meanwhile, Ukraine’s alignment with provisions of the Green Deal constitutes a parallel process that reflects planning for the future competitiveness of the Ukrainian economy and rebuilding in the context of war-induced uncertainties.