Myroslav Tabakharniuk, Vice President of the Ukrainian League of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, PhD in Economics
Decarbonization or mitigation of climate change involves reducing of greenhouse gas emissions in order to reduce global warming.
It would seem that in the midst of a bloody, senseless war, there is no time for such pompous definitions and statements. But after the victory, which will certainly be Ukraine’s, I am convinced that we need to rebuild our country and economy taking into account the principles of green economy and decarbonization, using low-carbon technologies, energy efficiency innovations and energy saving.
This requires a victory not only over the enemy, but also over ourselves. In addition to knowledge, technologies and financial resources, we also need changes in mentality, habits, traditions and rules of the game.
So, I have identified the following areas of Ukrainian decarbonization. We can start now with our everyday life, our lifestyle and behavior. These are banal things – a properly selected light bulb or electrical appliance, their rational use.
Over the years of independence, the price of energy has not always encouraged energy efficiency and energy saving. A timely closed window or door in the entrance, an insulated facade or heating mains, the right choice of heating system, and much more contribute to reduce emissions of CO2 and other greenhouse gases, as any traditional energy production provokes their emissions and, accordingly, a decrease in electricity or heat production automatically reduces emissions.
Therefore, a light bulb turned off on time is everyone’s contribution to the fight against climate changes. This is without unnecessary pathos. And then even more: the use of electric panels and electric collectors, heat pumps, wind turbines, and household innovations up to the transition to, so-called, passive or even active houses with thermally modernized facades.
There are many energy efficiency measures, but it all starts with an energy audit and a clear action plan. Households and the residential sector are the first frontier for decarbonization, and it is necessary to start with changes in habits, traditions, mentality, and only then with equipment and technologies. The status of a decarbonizer suits both a housewife and the President of Ukraine, because the war with the nature always ends in defeat.
The next area is energy, that has a significant impact on greenhouse gas emissions and, consequently, on climate change, is quite high.
In addition to low-carbon energy production from renewable sources, which Ukraine has been very successfully developing and, unfortunately, has slowed down, a deep innovative modernization of existing TPPs and CHPs is needed, and determining the prospects for abandoning the use of coal as a fossil fuel.
Energy infrastructure needs to be modernized to reduce technological losses: electricity, gas, heat, where we are still stuck in Soviet technologies that have exhausted themselves long time ago. And the production of energy that is lost, creates greenhouse gas emissions.
Ukrainian industry, as a source of emissions, is also far from perfect, but there are a lot of reserves for decarbonization.
Costs per unit of manufactured products or energy intensity of GDP in Ukraine are 2-3 times higher than in Europe, and to change this, we need measures and investments for modernization and transformation of the industry. And that is why, the access to new technologies and the possibility of their application are important, and of course, the access to financial resources.
There are ways to reduce emissions not only in industrial systems, but also in energy, transportation, infrastructure and buildings, and even in agricultural land.
The creation of new industries and markets, such as the production of hydrogen as a fuel, or carbon capture, conversion and its use, is promising.
All this, in addition to the state strategy and actions, also requires the involvement of the business community. That is why, at the beginning of the year, we at ULIE created the Decarbonization Center and set ourselves the goal make our own contribution to decarbonization.
In addition to the popularization and promotion in the business environment of the ideas of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, the necessary fight against climate changes and participation in creating the rules of the game on the carbon market of Ukraine through the creation of an effective competitive system of emission trading and its adaptation to the European one, the main thing in the strategy of the Center’s activity is to support and promote the transformations through the use of low-carbon innovative and energy-efficient technologies, creation of preconditions for decarbonization. Be the way, the Prime Minister of Ukraine, Denys Shmyhal, in his speech, announced the market volume of more than 100 billion euros.
Currently, we are actively working on finding and engaging in project support for decarbonization both for newly established enterprises and for modernization and restoration projects of existing ones. Our goal is to create a platform for promoting new technologies in the interests of industrial enterprises and infrastructure, and thus the state, which is currently focusing all its efforts on fighting the enemy. We aim to create a ranking of low-carbon technologies, so we are interested in cooperating with their developers and owners.
We see a great potential in creating a concept and methodology of regional energy efficiency programs and the development of the efficient system of energy management from the student level to the state administration level. We hope that our platform will become a productive bridge between domestic science and industry, because our researches and experience will allow a deeper understanding of the possibilities and needs of the decarbonization market.
There are no alternatives to decarbonization on the way to Europe. In the decarbonization market, the government should develop competition, expand the market volume, eliminate obstacles and create incentives for development. After all, this formula is relevant for all markets and industries.
