Green transformation must become an integral part of Ukraine's economic development.
Minister of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine Roman Abramovsky
during the online discussion "Sustainable Development Day", organized by the European Business Association, emphasized that green transformation should become an integral part of Ukraine's economic development
"We understand that state policy should encourage the modernization of the economy in such a way as not to become a burden for the population and business. Green transformation and entrepreneurship development must be synergistic concepts. It is important that the economic recovery after the pandemic takes place taking into account the goals of sustainable development and the European Green Deal," Roman Abramovsky noted.
The Minister spoke about the measures currently being taken by Ukraine in climate policy, which should have positive economic, social, and security consequences. In particular:
The situation where CO2 taxes and parts of the environmental tax are directed to the general fund of the State Budget does not allow these resources to be purposefully used for environmental protection measures.
In addition, the financing system needs to be reformed by analogy with the countries of Central and Eastern Europe. In particular, it is advisable to create a special fund as a separate legal entity with a transparent decision-making mechanism and the ability to apply various approaches to support enterprises in implementing environmental protection measures. The Polish Environmental Protection and Water Management Fund and the Energy Efficiency Fund operating in Ukraine work by analogy.
The main principles on which the Ukrainian Climate Fund will be based:
Building a transparent model of the fund's operation according to European standards will allow Ukraine to attract additional funds within the framework of the Green Deal and other international processes.
- Independence from the State Budget will allow the fund's resources "from A to Z" to be spent on improving the state of the environment.
- A transparent fund management structure will facilitate the attraction of additional funds from international projects, including within the framework of the Green Deal.
- Understanding the volume of annual funding will make it possible to plan and implement long-term projects.
- The introduction of different levels of support will allow covering both projects that require only co-financing and projects that need 100% investment.
- the preparation of Ukraine's Nationally Determined Contribution to the Paris Agreement is underway. This is a key process for determining a balanced vector of economic development. The results of scenario modeling make it possible to propose Ukraine's contribution to greenhouse gas emissions at a level of 27 to 46% from 1990. The Final Report of experts with sectoral data on the potential and necessary investments to achieve ambitious goals is currently expected;
- The Ministry of Environmental Protection is working on launching a greenhouse gas emissions trading system in Ukraine - one of the main mechanisms for stimulating the energy sector and industry to reduce emissions in the future;
- It is also important to make optimal decisions to support key transformations. Therefore, the Ministry emphasizes the need for environmental taxation reform and financing of environmental protection measures.