Cabinet of Ministers will transform Ukraine’s economy toward the European green course – Shmyhal

The Cabinet of Ministers will transform the economy toward carbon-neutral development within the framework of the Paris Agreement, which brings Ukraine closer to the European green course and to implementing the provisions of the Association Agreement with the EU.

Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal stated this during a meeting to discuss the preparation of Ukraine's second national contribution to the Paris Agreement.

"The government of Ukraine is making every effort to gradually transform the national economy toward carbon-neutral development. The commitments, which will be outlined in the second nationally determined contribution, will set the trajectory of Ukraine's economy for at least 10 years," Shmyhal said.

According to the Prime Minister, the development and submission of the Nationally Determined Contribution of Ukraine is a requirement of the Paris Agreement. According to him, Ukraine should submit the second NDC to the Secretariat of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and should contain goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to climate change.

For his part, the Minister of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources Roman Abramovskyi stressed that the directions of economic development must be balanced.

"Ukraine is an active participant in the global fight against climate change and adaptation to it. Therefore, today our primary task is to finally form the second NDC to the Paris Agreement in line with the long-term goal of achieving carbon neutrality no later than 2060 but to be realistic. Vectors of development of the Ukrainian economy must be economically and ecologically balanced," Abramovskyi said.

The Prime Minister stressed that the government shared the EU's vision of increasing the ambition of climate goals and strengthening the decarbonization of the economic system. "Environmental transformation in Ukraine is an essential condition for effective environmental transformation in Europe," he said.

We'll note that the talk of "eco-transformation" of the domestic economy is related to events in Western Europe. In particular, the European Parliament has recently supported the introduction of a carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM).

The purpose of the CBAM implementation is to prevent the so-called carbon leakage when the capacities of climate-harmful production from the EU are transferred to countries that don't seek a radical reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. Therefore, the Ukrainian industry, much of which uses coal as a source of energy, will have to change or look for other markets.

At the same time, on February 16, the Verkhovna Rada "failed" to vote on Draft Law 4167 "Draft Law on Prevention, Reduction and Control of Pollution Occurring as a Result of Industrial Activities" and returned it for a second first reading.