Shmyhal: Government seeks to transform economy towards carbon-neutral development

"The Government of Ukraine is making every effort to gradually transform the national economy in the direction of carbon-neutral development. The obligations, which will be outlined in the second Nationally Determined Contribution, will set the trajectory of Ukraine’s economic development for at least 10 years," Shmyhal said at a meeting dedicated to the discussion of the development of Ukraine’s second national contribution to the Paris Agreement.

According to him, the development and submission of the Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) of Ukraine is a mandatory requirement of the Paris Agreement. He noted that the second NDC should be submitted by Ukraine to the Secretariat of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and should contain goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to climate change.

In turn, Minister of Minister of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources Roman Abramovsky stressed that the directions of economic development must be balanced.

"Ukraine is an active participant in the global fight against climate change and adaptation to it. That is why today our main task is to ensure that the second NDC under the Paris Agreement, formed in the final, meets the long-term goal of achieving carbon neutrality no later than 2060, and is realistic. Vectors of development of the Ukrainian economy’s sectors must be economically and ecologically balanced," Abramovsky said.

In addition, the Prime Minister stressed that the Government shares the EU's vision of the need to increase the ambition of climate goals and strengthen the decarbonization of the economic system. "Environmental transformation in Ukraine is an essential condition for effective environmental transformation in Europe," he noted.

Among other participants in the online meeting were Minister of Economic Development, Trade and Agriculture Ihor Petrashko and Minister of Finance Serhiy Marchenko.

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