With your extensive background in the Ukrainian government, how are you leveraging this experience to influence impactful policy decisions at the European Climate Foundation (ECF), especially in the context of post-war green recovery?

 

When the war started I was getting often questions, like, shouldn’t we forget about the climate during the war? Doesn't Ukraine have much higher priorities? The answer is, although we do have the first and ultimate priority to fight Russia on the battlefield, our second priority is to ensure Ukraine as a state is effective and much less dependent on imported fossil fuels in the future.

 

With reconstruction projects and decisions being made now during the war, there are both risks of locking into old dependencies and inefficiencies as well as opportunities to transform towards new technologies and setups, which could bring resilience, efficiency, and long-term economic benefits.

 

When I was working for the government and leading the tasks of updating Ukraine's UN climate targets, we identified opportunities that would bring climate mitigation, economic benefits, social benefits, better quality of life for people, and stronger energy security. Some of these opportunities are justified even in wartime.

 

With this knowledge, at the ECF we focus on transformations, which provide resilience to people already in times of war and set the path to long-term carbon mitigation transformations. To give a few examples: in the energy sector - the development of small-scale decentralised energy is the cheapest, most resilient, and climate-friendly scenario for the future of the energy sector in Ukraine, as proved by several modelling exercises. By supporting project development, advocacy for the elimination of different barriers, and communication of good practices, we contribute to scaling up the transformation and provision of electricity to Ukrainians in the energy crisis, created by Russian attacks. Another example from the infrastructure sector is – the construction of bridges. Ukraine has to rebuild hundreds of bridges and is already building. By applying modern design, EU standards, and new technologies, it is possible to reduce construction costs, and the amounts of concrete and other GHG-heavy materials used. So, the transformation of policies and practices in this sector have both economic and environmental benefits.

 

I am glad that the ECF can support many great initiatives in Ukraine, allowing civil society organisations to be advocates, policy watchdogs, or supportive hands to national and local governments in greener reconstruction. Ukraine just wouldn't be the same without its civil society and its dedicated work.

 

 

Looking forward, how do you envision Ukraine aligning its sustainability strategies with its goals for European Union membership?

 

After the Maidan revolution in 2013-2014 regardless of changes in the political leadership of Ukraine, the EU integration direction remained solid, while expectations from Ukrainians for reforms, rule of law, elimination of corruption, and the creation of conditions for economic development were getting just stronger.

 

The political will for EU integration reforms is very strong, as well as the understanding that environmental and climate policies would be one of the most difficult to implement. We have a lot of work ahead, and it has not stopped during the war - in the past two years, Ukraine has passed several pieces of legislation, which implement environmental EU directives.