Ukraine can become a major producer and supplier of green renewable electricity and materials for the green transformation of the steel industry to the EU.
This was stated by Stanislav Zinchenko, Chairman of the Committee on Industrial Ecology and Sustainable Development of the European Business Association, in an exclusive interview with EcoPolitics.
He emphasized that the green transformation of the Ukrainian economy is very important for Europe in terms of its contribution to the fight against climate change. According to the expert, the European Union will be able to achieve its ambitious climate change mitigation goals faster if it integrates Ukraine and invests in its eco-modernization.
Stanislav Zinchenko is confident that our country's solar and wind potential can help Europe increase its production of green energy and hydrogen.
“The domestic steel industry is ready to produce low-carbon steel and raw materials for the production of green European steel. In other words, we are ready to support the EU and be part of green value chains, but we need investments,” he said.
The expert highlighted two leading roles that our country can play in the EU's green transformation:
1. A large producer and supplier of green renewable electricity, the need for which, according to him, is only growing in the EU.
“In particular, our country has a great potential as a hydrogen producer, not only of green hydrogen, but also of hydrogen produced by nuclear energy,” said Stanislav Zinchenko.
2. Supplier of materials for the green transformation of the steel industry. According to the expert, Ukraine can be a very good place to produce green steel or semi-finished products.
The expert also suggested that if our country produces both green raw materials and green energy, it may be more profitable for the EU to produce in Ukraine and supply products to the European market than to import from more distant and less friendly countries.
“That is, Ukraine can be a very important element of the European economic space and a place for the production of green products. It is extremely important that the European Union treats Ukraine as a part of itself, not as a third country,” said Stanislav Zinchenko.
He is convinced that Ukraine's role in achieving the EU's ambitious climate goals can be very important.
Recently, EcoPolitic reported that the EU has assessed the effectiveness of its own carbon market in 2023-2024.
