EUROPEAN UNION FOR ENVIRONMENT PROGRAMME SUPPORTS UKRAINIAN INDUSTRY ON ITS PATH TOWARDS GREEN RECONSTRUCTION AND RECOVERY

 

 

 

A greener industrial sector is crucial for the development and resilience of our economies and societies. Enhancing industry’s resource, energy and carbon productivity is particularly significant in the case of Ukraine, where the current context demands an approach focused on the resilience, recovery and reconstruction of industries. Taking stock of this year’s challenges stemming from the aggression by the Russian Federation against Ukraine, as well as of the support provided by the European Union (EU), including through the EU4Environment programme, was in the focus of the annual national conference on circular economy (15 December 2022).

The conference gathered around 150 participants who represented the enterprise sector, the Ministry of Economy of Ukraine, the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine, the EU Delegation and the European Commission, UNIDO, and other organizations.

While we are looking forward to the end of this terrible war, we are already thinking and working on the reconstruction of our country, as its course is built on the basis of Circular Economy and the EU Green Deal. Ukraine has chosen a course where both businesses and authorities work to find benefits and break barriers in the transition to a Circular Economy, and an important issue in this sense is dealing with waste. Hence, the Ministry of Environmental Protection has introduced a reform on waste management based on the successful experiences of other European countries. We therefore use this national conference as an opportunity to be interactive and listen to what businesses struggle with and what they need most so they can receive new information and support adapted to the current reality, said Mr. Yevheniy Fedorenko, Deputy Minister of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine.

During the conference, the discussion revolved around the current situation of the manufacturing sector, the means to address new challenges and invest in prospects for a greener development, as well as the progress achieved within EU4Environment initiatives such as the Industrial Waste Mapping (IWM) pilot in Slavuta and Davydiv, and the application of EU’s Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) methodology.

It is important to use available materials in order to build back as fast as possible and in line with the EU Green Deal. In this sense, there are already a few European companies applying modern circular economy technologies to rebuild over 3.000 apartments in Ukraine by reusing debris from buildings. Reusing as much as possible the available materials avoids the costs of extraction. While Ukraine has the double challenge to shake its economy and transform it into a sustainable one (while dealing with the results of the invasion), the current situation also allows it to leapfrog in key sustainability areas unavailable before, said Mr. Gregory Tsouris, Counsellor, Green Deal, EU Delegation to Ukraine.

The upbeat assessment was also echoed by the remarks of Ms. Viktoria Kovalenko, State Expert on Smart Specialization and Resource Efficiency, Directorate for Development of the Real Sector of Economy, Ministry of Economy of Ukraine: today’s event will give us a lot of energy and ideas to implement the plans currently available in Ukraine. The challenging times have impacted all sectors of life and the economy. We have an active dialogue both inside of Ukraine and outside, with all our external partners helping make the recovery plan a sustainable, inclusive, and green one. By restoring the industrial capacities, we will improve not only the canonical and environmental indicators of the country but overall, the creation of long-lasting products is going to help us to improve the usage of the resources through recycling and reusing. In the current context, it is important to provide timely support for national businesses and assist them in their reform and recovery. As well, the path to recovery and development needs to be a sustainable one, as sustainable development is an organizing principle for meeting human development goals while simultaneously providing natural resources and ecosystem services upon which the economy and society depend on. This is the core principle of the RECP methodology, implemented by UNIDO in Ukraine within EU4Environment: today we have the chance to discuss the results and progress of promoting RECP principles within businesses and demonstrate what was already done and could be done in the current conditions. It has become an annual tradition to discuss resource efficiency in Ukraine and to engage enterprises to see all possible ideas that could feed into further development, said Ms. Tatiana Chernyavskaya, EU4Environment Project Manager, Circular Economy and Resource Efficiency Unit, UNIDO.

This was further confirmed in the closing remarks provided by Ms. Angela Bularga, Programme Officer, European Commission, who highlighted the resilience of the Ukrainian people and enterprises in response to the Russian war of aggression, and the European Union’s commitment to support Ukraine. The extension of the EU4Environment programme by another year aimed at continuing to help enterprises and other stakeholders in Ukraine and regionally.

 

Background

The “European Union for Environment” (EU4Environment – Green Economy) Action helps the Eastern Partner countries preserve their natural capital and increase people’s environmental well-being, by supporting environment-related action, demonstrating and unlocking opportunities for greener growth, and setting mechanisms to better manage environmental risks and impacts.

It is funded by the European Union and implemented by five Partner organizations – OECD, UNECE, UNEP, UNIDO, and the World Bank – over the 2019-2024 period, with a budget of EUR 20 million.

For more information about the Action, please visit: www.eu4environment.org  

For more information about RECP in Ukraine, please visit: www.recpc.org