The Ministry of Ecology is strengthening cooperation with international partners to implement Ukraine’s climate policy

Deputy Minister Viktoriia Kyreieva together with representatives of the Climate Policy and Reporting Unit of the Department of Industrial Pollution Prevention and Climate Policy of the Ministry of Ecology – Yulia Romanenko and Mykhailo Chyzhenko – took part in the presentation of the EU4ClimateResilience project and the National PROGRESS Conference, which join forces to support the Eastern Partnership countries, including Ukraine, on the path to developing effective climate policy.

‘Ukraine demonstrates its commitment to the European agenda and the EU’s Green Deal. Currently, the development and implementation of an effective climate policy is a priority for us. This year, the Government approved the Strategy for the Formation and Implementation of the State Policy on Climate Change until 2035, and our draft law ‘On the Basic Principles of the State Climate Policy’ is being prepared for the second reading in the Verkhovna Rada. We are committed to European integration, and we count on the support of the EU4ClimateResilience project in expanding the list of activities subject to regulation under the MEA, which will be in line with the list in Directive 2003/87/EC,’ said Viktoriia Kyreeva, Deputy Minister of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine.

The PROGRESS project is focused on preparing the Eastern Partnership countries, including Ukraine, for the European Green Deal. In particular, it is about adapting agriculture and other sectors of the economy to new environmental requirements, which will contribute to the country’s sustainable development and environmental modernisation.

‘We would like to contribute to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, as well as address the issue of climate change adaptation not only in the municipal context, but also in the agricultural sector, and, very importantly, the implementation of green finance mechanisms in Ukraine,’ said Martina Kolb, Programme Director, PROGRESS/EU4ClimateResilience, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH.

The EU4ClimateResilience and PROGRESS projects will assist Ukraine in conducting research to develop climate change adaptation strategies and planning their implementation. The projects also aim to bring Ukraine’s monitoring, reporting and verification system in line with EU standards.

‘EU4ClimateResilience will continue its intensive work on climate legislation with a new regional initiative for the entire Eastern Partnership region. We intend to continue to develop our joint climate cooperation with Ukraine, primarily because we see it as an important and challenging area on the path to the EU,’ said Remi Duflot, Ministerial Adviser, Chargé d’affaires a.i., European Union.

The event was attended by 150 participants, including representatives of the European Investment Bank for Eastern Europe, the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection, the Ministry of Ecology, the Ministry of Agrarian Policy, regional councils, international organisations such as the OECD, UNIDO, FAO, the Covenant of Mayors, the International Panel on Climate Change, the Institute for Economics and Forecasting of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, agrarian and environmental associations, heads of banks, enterprises, universities, community associations, NGOs and others.