There are several scenarios for Ukraine’s response to the European Green Deal - from maintaining the status quo to stepping up the Ukrainian party in developing a common roadmap for Ukraine’s inclusion in this process.

President of DiXi Group Olena Pavlenko said about this during an online discussion “Green Vector of Ukraine: not to miss opportunities and avoid threats”, organized jointly by the Resource and Analysis Center “Society and Environment”, DiXi Group Think Tank, Institute for Economic Research and Policy Consulting, Ukrainian Think Tanks Liaison Office in Brussels, with the support of the International Foundation Vidrodzhennia, Ukrayinska Energetyka reports.

“According to the first scenario, when Ukraine leaves everything as it is today, we will be excluded from the European ecological economy. Then we will have to deal with carbon tax, problems of exporting products produced and grown using “dirty” energy sources, etc. According to the second scenario, when we wait and look at the results of the EU’s “green” economy, nothing good awaits us. And only according to the third scenario, Ukraine will become part of the European Green Deal. Then the threats can be turned into opportunities and we shall be able to talk about the environmental friendliness of products”, she said.

According to Olena Pavlenko, the EU has the political will to include Ukraine in this process, to develop common approaches and to define common rules of the game.

“It is worth talking about strengthening the existing instruments for Ukraine’s inclusion in the European Green Deal (in particular, within the framework of the Association Agreement, the Energy Community Treaty, the Eastern Partnership). The Government should not waste time and invite the European party to jointly develop a Roadmap to put the Ukrainian economy on the “green” rails”, she said.

Business should study the strategy of the European Green Deal and remain integrated into supply chains and production of environmentally friendly products in cooperation with the EU. The Parliament will continue to pass laws that “bring us closer to the European Green Deal, develop an effective mechanism for implementing Annex 27, which will allow us to quickly and better understand the new rules,” Pavlenko said.

“Climate change is a cross-cutting issue of the European Green Deal. Climate change and overcoming it must be included in all policies (energy, transport and policies of other sectors of the economy), which will improve the quality of life of people in Ukraine,” DiXi Group President summarized.

During the online discussion, the organizers repeatedly addressed the discussion of the analytical document “European Green Deal: Opportunities and Threats for Ukraine”, which was presented on May 26, 2020.

Ukrayinska Energetyka wrote that the acting Minister of Energy Olha Buslavets expressed confidence that joint work with the EU, work on energy infrastructure development and full harmonization of Ukrainian legislation with European requirements and standards will create favorable conditions for the integration of energy markets. Buslavets is convinced that a significant part of Ukraine’s energy commitments to the European Union has been fulfilled.