Business and government discussed prospects of environmental deregulation and eurointegration during the war
Seven months of war have caused irreparable damage to the environment of Ukraine. Despite the difficulties of wartime, businesses continue to operate in Ukraine, fulfill their obligations and make new plans. Thus, a significant number of industrial enterprises are determined to continue projects aimed at decarbonization and sustainable development in general.
The prospects of continuing the European integration reform of environmental policy and legislation despite the wartime challenges were discussed at the EBA roundtable “Environmental deregulation during war and reforms for eurointegration”.
Svitlana Mykhailovska, EBA Deputy Director Advocacy, reported that businesses now have to respond to operational challenges that increase proportionally to the duration of the active phase of the war. In addition to the general security situation, we are talking about the procedure for reserving employees liable for military service, the predictability of financial and tax policy, and the establishment of exports. And the latest russian attacks on Ukraine’s critical infrastructure require even greater vigilance.
Understanding the need for quality preparation for the green recovery of Ukraine after our victory, the business community presented the third updated EBA White Paper “Deregulation of Environmental Legislation In A Time of War and Reforms Aimed for European Integration”. The document outlines the business community’s vision of addressing 9 key environmental issues in the context of deregulation during martial law and implementation of European legislation for the period of post-war reconstruction of Ukraine and continuing the path to EU membership. Each proposal contains a description of the current legislative framework, takes into account the impact of the war, EU experience and proposes solutions in the context of responsible authorities.
In the context of European integration, the key issues, according to the representatives of the Association, are the reform of industrial pollution, targeted use of environmental taxes and the launch of the greenhouse gas emissions trading market, reform of environmental inspection, the spread of voluntary environmental audit and eco-insurance, biodiversity protection and the transition to a circular economy model. The environmental sphere needs deregulation in terms of the environmental impact assessment procedure, reduction of fiscal pressure on business, and simplification of access to the subsoil.
Ukrainian climate and environmental agenda is very much connected with EU regulation. Stanislav Zinchenko, Director of GMK Center, Chairman of the EBA Industrial Ecology and Sustainable Development Committee, spoke about the interaction with the EU and new focuses of climate policy, which become even more important for Ukraine in view of its status as a candidate country for EU accession.
At the end of last year, the European Parliament, the EU Council, and the European Commission set out their legislative priorities for 2022 in a joint declaration. At the top of the list of key policy objectives is a sustainable growth strategy based on the European Green Deal and the development of policies under the Fit for 55 package to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.
There are three main trends in the EU’s environmental policy for 2022 – accelerating the development of renewable energy sources, raising environmental and climate standards for domestic industry, and continuing the course of introducing non-tariff barriers for third countries.
However, it would be wrong to say that russia’s war against Ukraine has not influenced the EU’s political decisions on climate and environment. For example, in order to accelerate the energy transition, MEPs supported the ambitious reduction of energy consumption in the EU by 14.5% and the achievement of a 45% share of renewable energy in the total energy balance by 2030.
Oleh Bondarenko, Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Environmental Policy and Nature Management, shared the achievements of the Committee for the period of 8 months of the war. Thus, a framework law on waste management was adopted, as well as draft laws on improving the mechanism for regulating emissions of pollutants into the atmosphere and on the National Register of Emissions and Transfer of Pollutants.
In the near future, the work is planned on two draft laws in waste management for the largest industries – mining waste and packaging waste management. Also, the Committee plans to continue the reform in the field of subsoil use, which provides for simplification of investors’ access to subsoil use, revision of permitting processes, and further deregulation of the industry.
Mr. Bondarenko thanked the businesses that direct resources to the eco-modernization of enterprises and the introduction of new technologies without waiting for mandatory changes in legislation. At the same time, he noted that the state regulation in the field of environmental protection will be further strengthened, as required by our eurointegration commitments, but during the war, it will be carried out taking into account the state of industries and enterprises. The reform of state control, according to Mr. Bondarenko, should be comprehensive and cover all issues of overcoming industrial pollution, both in terms of financing and environmental control.
Oleksandr Krasnolutskyi, Deputy Minister of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine, told about the work of the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine over the past seven months. Thus, the Ministry has created the EcoThreat platform to record crimes against the environment. The Ministry is also working on reforming the environmental inspection, and changing the procedure for environmental impact assessment. As an EU candidate country, Ukraine has signed the LIFE program, which will help finance projects aimed at protecting the environment and climate.
Ukraine will move towards the harmonization of national legislation with the EU norms, particularly in terms of reforming environmental taxes and funding allocation. Currently, experts of the Ministry of Environment are studying the European experience in the context of the implementation of integrated permits, which will be subsequently reflected in draft law No. 6004-2. It is also planned to integrate reporting and statistics systems to save business resources for reporting.
Changes to the environmental impact assessment (EIA) procedure were discussed with Maryna Shymkus, Director of the Department of Environmental Impact Assessment at the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine. The Ministry will try to simplify the EIA procedure and make it more transparent and objective while maintaining a balance between the interests of the public and business. The EBA provided its recommendations for reforming this procedure, most of which were taken into account by the Ministry, as reported. The final version of the draft law is underway.
As it is known, currently there is a moratorium on scheduled environmental inspections in Ukraine, unscheduled inspections are carried out only in exceptional cases. And, according to Dmytro Zaruba, First Deputy Head of the State Environmental Inspectorate of Ukraine, it actively helps to calculate the environmental damage caused by military operations. According to the estimates of the State Environmental Inspectorate, the damage to the environment caused by the war has already exceeded UAH 1 trillion. Experts of the State Environmental Inspectorate together with international experts are working on new methods of calculating losses. Today’s task is to consolidate a single court case and transfer to international judicial bodies everything necessary for Ukraine to receive funds for environmental restoration. Ukraine’s reconstruction will be carried out according to the European approach, so together with the Ministry of Environment, the State Environmental Inspectorate joins the international dialogue to adopt best practices and help business.
We thank the representatives of the Verkhovna Rada and the Government, as well as business representatives who found time to join the meeting, which once again confirms the relevance of the environmental agenda despite the war!
