Due to the full-scale invasion, Ukrainian industry has a head start on implementing the best available technologies and management methods (BAT). These will become mandatory four years after the end of martial law. However, businesses can already voluntarily carry out eco-modernization of their production facilities and have several options for obtaining financing for this.
Bogdan Semenko, head of the Department of Environmental Protection and Industrial Pollution Prevention at the Ministry of Economy, Environment, and Agriculture, spoke about the options for attracting investment at a meeting of the Committee on Ecology and Green Economy of the Federation of Employers of Ukraine.
The first way is through DREAM
Essentially, DREAM is a single platform for managing public investments. Therefore, this system can also be used to find sources of funding for BAT projects.
In this case, the path to obtaining funding will consist of the following steps:
- Preparation of a document package. This may include a feasibility study, project documentation, a project description, all drafted in the government-approved form.
- Registration in the DREAM system and submission of your project to the public "basket".
- Review by relevant institutions, including the Ministry of Economy, which will also assess the project's environmental component. The priority of the application is determined based on this review.
- Entry into the unified public DREAM registry, which is accessible to donors searching for projects to invest in.
If a donor selects a specific project for funding, the system enables direct transition to B2B relationships to implement specific eco- and energy-modernisation measures.
“When we first started working with this platform, there were already donors with more than €3 billion ready to invest, including in energy-efficient and environmental solutions. In particular, there were donors from countries such as Canada, France, Japan, and South Korea,” said Bohdan Semenenko.
The ministry representative noted that different partnerships come with various funding conditions. Options include grants, partial support such as interest rate coverage on loans, and financing exclusively through a bank resident in the investor’s country of origin, among others.
State support program
Law No. 11355 "On Integrated Prevention and Control of Industrial Pollution" provides for the creation of a state program to support businesses that decide to implement BAT at their facilities.
Back in May 2025, the concept of the future program was approved. As of now, it has undergone public discussion and approval by relevant authorities and is currently pending approval by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine. The Ministry of Economy expects its adoption within 1–2 weeks.
The state program is planned for 5 years, that is, for the period when implementation of BAT is still voluntary and not yet mandatory. It will enable funding for the actions of businesses that decide not to wait for the final deadlines.
Within the program, two existing tools will be used.
"Available Loans at 5-7-9%". This program is planned to be modified-to expand its use to large businesses and to increase the volume of possible lending, since the Ministry of Economy recognizes that the current 90 million UAH is insufficient for large-scale eco-modernization.
Energy Efficiency Fund. Work is currently underway to broaden the participation criteria for its programs as well as the list of potential participants.
Exclusively for the implementation of the best available technologies within these instruments, the plan is to allocate 10.6 billion UAH. The preliminary KPI is to implement at least 10 projects aimed at achieving BAT.
International assistance
Separately, the Ministry of Economy is working with international partners who are not public donors. An example is the grant-based cooperation with GIZ, through which four projects have been funded. In particular, this refers to a project at the steel plant in Kremenchuk and a cardboard plant in Zhytomyr.
Bohdan Semenenko noted that there have recently been negotiations with the Director General for the Support of Germany’s Partner Countries regarding the review and expansion of similar programs.
"We are expecting an announcement from GIZ regarding the launch of an additional grant funding competition for achieving BAT," the Ministry representative stated.
The search for resources for eco-modernization of Ukrainian industry is taking place on various platforms-from Davos to bilateral negotiations and working meetings. A preliminary positive response was recently received from partners in Italy, Denmark, and Finland.
"If businesses have specific examples, specific projects that have been worked out beyond the conceptual level and at least to some pre-project preparation stage, if you have a specific amount of funding you need, but do not yet understand the path forward-we are ready to support you in finding such partners," emphasized the head of the ministerial department.
EcoPolitic previously provided a more detailed explanation of what BAT is and what it changes for Ukrainian industry.
In February, the Cabinet of Ministers approved a mechanism allowing enterprises to obtain a postponement for the implementation of best available technologies.
We also prepared material for you on how BAT was implemented in the European Union.
