On the way to climate neutrality: Ukraine has adopted a law
The Verkhovna Rada adopted European integration draft law No. 11310 on the basic principles of state climate policy. The bill was supported by 284 deputies.
It was one of the beacons of the Ukraine Facility Plan — a €50 billion financial assistance program for Ukraine from the EU. The law is currently sent to the President of Ukraine for signature.
The law defines the legal and organizational foundations of the state climate policy aimed at ensuring low-carbon and sustainable development of Ukraine, its ecological, food and energy security, achieving climate neutrality, ensuring mitigation of the consequences of climate change and adaptation to it, fulfilling Ukraine's international obligations in in the field of climate change and other key provisions of the state climate policy. In particular:
legally binding climate goals of Ukraine are established at the level of law. The state climate policy is aimed at achieving climate neutrality of Ukraine by 2050, and the intermediate goal is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 65 percent by 2030 in accordance with the 1990 level.
The law specifies that the armed aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine and its consequences can be considered the cause of retreats in the achievement of climate neutrality of Ukraine. The Law, among other things, states: "Ukraine strives to achieve the goals of the state climate policy ... taking into account agreed with Ukraine's international obligations ... possible concessions caused by the Russian Federation's armed aggression against Ukraine and its consequences" (Part 5, Article 4).
In addition, the Law provides for two more types of goals - long-term and medium-term goals of state climate policy. As stated in the document, long-term goals are determined exclusively by the Law. The law lists the following goals (for example, achieving climate neutrality through a socially fair and economically efficient transition to low-carbon development, increasing resilience and reducing risks associated with climate change, ensuring low-carbon and sustainable development of Ukraine). However, the Law does not provide quantitative measurements of long-term goals. The establishment of medium-term climate goals is removed from the competence of the Verkhovna Rada and assigned to the powers of the government, as these will be determined in the Long-term strategy of low-carbon development of Ukraine, which will be approved by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine.
the subjects and their competence in matters of state regulation and management in the field of state climate policy are defined. The law defines subjects at the national, regional and local levels, includes a scientific component to climate policy, and also promotes the involvement of civil society in the formation and implementation of climate policy.
The Parliament of Ukraine will not only determine the basic principles of the state climate policy, but also exercise parliamentary control over the formation and implementation of the state climate policy. The VRU provides annual consideration of information from the CMU on the progress and results of the implementation of policies and measures to mitigate climate change and adaptation to it (clause 3, part 2, article 5), as well as informing the government about the progress and results of the implementation of the Long-Term Strategy for Low-Carbon Development of Ukraine, the National Energy and Climate Plan, the Climate Change Adaptation Strategy (item 7, part 3, article 5). At the same time, the Law left open the question of further actions of the Verkhovna Rada based on the results of such information, measures that the Parliament of Ukraine can or should take, and their obligation to be taken into account by the CMU.
The Law contains provisions on the Government of Ukraine informing the Verkhovna Rada of the state of implementation of the Law after two years from the date of its entry into force. Again, the question of further actions of the VRU based on the results of such information is left out of consideration, but already in view of what the parliament itself should/is obliged to do in terms of improving legislative regulation. The issue goes beyond climate policy and concerns the need for the VRU to introduce mechanisms for the systematic review of laws, with the aim of checking and evaluating the latter for their relevance, efficiency and effectiveness.
One of the principles defined by the Law is the integration of state climate policy into all sectors of the economy and into all spheres of state policy. Its implementation will require a clear coordination mechanism, in particular in the system of executive authorities. The law assigned to the CMU the coordination of the work of ministries, determined the powers of ministries on certain issues of the formation and implementation of state policy, the creation of a consultative, advisory or other auxiliary body on climate change issues for effective coordination of the activities of executive authorities. At the same time, all the mentioned elements exist to a greater or lesser extent in the system of executive authorities of Ukraine, but currently they are insufficient or ineffective in promoting and achieving the results of the state climate policy. Therefore, the CMU is expected to develop an effective coordinating mechanism.
This will be facilitated by the government's experience in promoting European integration reforms and digital transformation of Ukraine, which provided for the prioritization of such reforms, entrusting their implementation to special vice-prime ministers and deputy ministers.
The law defines a number of principles on the basis of which the state climate policy should be formed and implemented. But a significant part of them was only declared and did not find further implementation in the provisions of the law. In view of the above, the principle of "scientific validity" differs favorably. Its implementation involves the creation of a Scientific Expert Council on Climate Change and Ozone Layer Preservation, the key task of which is scientific support for the formation of state climate policy and the achievement of its goals.
The law did not ignore the involvement of the public and other interested parties in the formation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the state climate policy. In particular, Article 22 is devoted to public information, participation and access to information on climate change. It reflects the general approaches of informing and involving the public, which are inherent in the state environmental policy. The legislator reflected more specific approaches in the requirements for the involvement of expert organizations and the public in the development of sectoral (Part 3, Article 12), regional and local program documents (Part 4, Article 14). At the same time, there is no such specification regarding the key program documents of the state climate policy (for example, the Long-Term Low-Carbon Development Strategy of Ukraine, the Nationally Determined Contribution of Ukraine to the Paris Agreement, the National Energy and Climate Plan, the Climate Change Adaptation Strategy).
It would be appropriate to include in the Law provisions on the specifics of public involvement in the state climate policy. Part of the EU acquis, which Ukraine was obliged to implement, directly requires this. In particular, Regulation 2018/1999 (implemented by the Law) provides that each state establishes a multi-level dialogue on climate and energy issues in accordance with national rules, in which local authorities, civil society organizations, the business community, investors and other relevant stakeholders, as well as the general public, can actively engage and discuss different scenarios envisaged for energy and climate policy, including for the long term (Article 11).
– the program documents of the state climate policy are defined. The law provided for the approval of a number of program documents of the state climate policy. They should be adopted at different levels of climate policy (national, sectoral, regional and local levels), related to issues of mitigation and adaptation to climate change.
The document also provided for the inclusion of climate issues in other planning acts of state policy, in particular, taking into account the goals of state climate policy in programs for the comprehensive restoration of ARCs, regions, territories of territorial communities.
At the same time, the Law does not provide a clear understanding of the system of program documents of state climate policy. This could be avoided by including in Art. 1 of the Law, the term "program documents of state climate policy", or a separate article to Chapter III "Planning of state climate policy", which would outline the system of program documents.
The approval of the Law of Ukraine "On the Basic Principles of State Climate Policy" is an important and necessary step on Ukraine's path to the EU, its sustainable development, and prioritizing the fight against climate change. Its effective implementation will require further development of subordinate legal acts that will detail the mechanisms for implementing new policies. The issue of ensuring stable financing of climate measures and the problem of postponing the entry into force of Art. 21, which provides for the financing of measures aimed at achieving the goals of the state climate policy.
Author: Zoryana Kozak, senior analyst of the Resource Analytical Center "Society and Environment", specially for "Ukrainian Energy"
