Business proposes a reform of Ukraine’s environmental policy

The Committee on Industrial Ecology and Sustainable Development of the European Business Association presented its program Reforming environmental policy and legislation to achieve sustainable development goals.

The document was presented on the Sustainable Development Day organized by the European Business Association.

The proposal focuses on improvement of Ukraine’s environmental policy, procedures and targeting of environmental project funding.

“This document is a result of a six months’ work of our Committee. It is coauthored by the Committee member companies. One of our goals is to help the government understand the real needs of the business. We elaborated the needed actions and grouped them into three main areas: environmental protection, climate change and funding instruments,” says Olga Boyko, Coordinator of the EBA Committee on Industrial Ecology and Sustainable Development.

The document sets out proposals for improvement of the legislative and regulatory framework in the field of environmental protection, in particular by reforming the following areas:

1. Industrial pollution control.
2. Waste management.
3. Environmental impact assessment.
4. Industrial waste management.
5. Environmental control and environmental inspection.

The document also elaborates on the efficiency of environmental modernization funding instruments, and proposes to reform the environmental taxation system and the investment policy in the area of ecological modernization.

The following steps were proposed to combat climate change:

1. Ukraine’s accession to the European Green Deal.
2. Reform of the environmental monitoring system and launch of the greenhouse gas emissions market.
3. Elaboration of approach to Ukraine’s Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) under the Paris Agreement.
4. Revision of the trade relations with the EU in the context of decarbonization and CBA.

“We meant this document to be a set of simple statements for a broad audience. One of the challenges that we identified in the course of our work is that out of 450 MPs, 20 at the most closely deal with environmental problems and sustainable development, propose legislative initiatives in that area. We hope that our document will bring environmental problems into focus of all branches of power at both national and local level, experts and business. Our Committee is open for cooperation with all the stakeholders,” underlines Stanislav Zinchenko, Head of the EBA Committee on Industrial Ecology and Sustainable Development, CEO of GMK Center.

The document Reforming environmental policy and legislation to achieve sustainable development goals will soon be published on the official website of the European Business Association.