Under the EU Green Deal, the European Union plans to introduce a tax on imports of the goods that will have a significant carbon footprint. At the same time Ukraine’s economy is one of the most energy-intensive in the world. Therefore, the need for decarbonization is due to both internal and external factors.

Among the possible solutions to this issue is the introduction of the Decarbonization Fund. The Ministry of Energy, the State Agency on Energy Efficiency, the Ukrainian-Danish Energy Center, GIZ, UNIDO and peoples’ deputies joined in the development of the relevant bill. The idea is to create a mechanism for attracting contributions from the payment of СО2 emissions tax for the targeted use of these funds for measures that will reduce these emissions.

On February 20, 2021 the State Agency on Energy Efficiency together with the Heinrich Böll Foundation and stakeholders held a second discussion within the “Green Deal Network”, a platform established by the Agency and the Foundation.

The discussion was attended by peoples’ deputies of Ukraine, management of the Ministry of Energy, Ministry of Economic Development, Trade and Agriculture, Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine, representatives of international projects GIZ and UNIDO/GEF UKR IEE, Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Ukrainian Association of Energy Service Companies, DiXi Group, Professional Association of Ecologists of Ukraine, “Ecoaction” and “Ecoclub” NGOs.

The participants considered ways to increase the energy efficiency of Ukrainian industry.

In addition, the participants drew attention to other instruments for improving energy efficiency in industry, as well as programs implemented by international technical assistance projects (GIZ initiatives to conduct energy audits of industrial enterprises and encourage project implementation, and the Loan Guarantee Fund for energy efficiency measures for industry being implemented by UNIDO and UKRGAZBANK JSB).

Serhiy Porovskyy, Energy Efficiency Financing and Policy Expert of the UNIDO/GEF UKR IEE Project, said:

“Comprehensive measures are needed: financial, regulatory and technical.

Regarding technical measures and building technical expertise, from 2015 to 2019 UNIDO implemented a training program on the implementation of energy management systems and optimization of energy-consuming systems in industry. We have trained almost 200 experts of various levels.

Regarding financial measures, the UNIDO/GEF UKR IEE Project together with UKRGASBANK JSB has already launched the Loan Guarantee Fund for industrial enterprises for the implementation of energy efficiency measures and, first of all, the implementation of the Energy Management System in accordance with ISO 50001:2018.”

During the discussion participants focused on important conclusions:

  • the urgent need to modernize industry as a prerequisite for increasing the competitiveness of the economy;
  • introduction of a transparent, high-quality and, importantly, effective tool to support industry;
  • compliance with the following principles at the stage of building the mechanism: “the polluter pays” and “additional climate funding should lead to additional reduction of СО2 emissions”;
  • the importance of stimulating enterprises to implement comprehensive decarbonisation projects (by co-financing loans).