On Friday, February 21, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine approved an action plan to create a national greenhouse gas emissions trading system (ETS).
This was announced by Svitlana Grinchuk, Minister of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine.
The action plan defines the timeframe, tasks, activities and their results in three main strategic areas that will ensure the effective implementation of the national greenhouse gas emissions trading system in Ukraine, namely
- development of legal acts in the field of national ETS implementation;
- ensuring the effective functioning of the national ETS in accordance with the requirements of the EU greenhouse gas emissions trading system;
- maintaining an ongoing systematic dialog to facilitate interaction and raise awareness of stakeholders on the implementation of the national ETS.
Approval of the action plan for the establishment of a national greenhouse gas emissions trading system is one of the components of Reform 3 “Market-based carbon pricing mechanisms” of the Ukraine Facility Plan. The deadline for its implementation is the first quarter of 2025.
According to Svitlana Hrynchuk, the ETS implementation plan approved today includes 3 main stages:
- Preparatory (2025-2027) – development of the legislative framework and creation of the necessary tools for the ETS.
- The first, “pilot” stage (starting in 2028) is a test launch of the greenhouse gas emissions trading system.
- The second, operational, phase will begin no earlier than 3 years after the lifting of martial law, which will allow the ETS to be implemented in the context of a stable economic recovery.
The minister also said that the government has today approved the Procedure for holding public hearings in the process of issuing an integrated environmental permit.
As EcoPolitic reported earlier, on November 20, the Ministry of Environment published a draft order of the Cabinet of Ministers “On Approval of the Action Plan for the Establishment of a National Greenhouse Gas Emissions Trading System”. On December 30, 2024, the ministry announced the completion of the public discussion procedure and reported that no suggestions or comments on the draft order had been received from the public.
As a reminder, we learned from experts about the potential risks of introducing the ETS in Ukraine. They named 5 main pitfalls.
