On Wednesday, January 29, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed Law of Ukraine No. 4187-IX “On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of Ukraine on the Restoration of Monitoring, Reporting and Verification of Greenhouse Gas Emissions”.
Information on the current status of this document is available on the official website of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine.
Why it is important
This Law is an element of one of the 6 important reforms contained in Chapter 15 “Green Transition and Environmental Protection” of the Ukraine Facility Plan. The restoration of the mandatory system of monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV) of greenhouse gas emissions is part of Reform 3, Market-based carbon pricing mechanisms. The deadline for implementation is the 2nd quarter of 2025.
Also, the renewal of mandatory MRV is a prerequisite for the creation of an emissions trading system (ETS) for greenhouse gas emissions.
That changes
The system of monitoring, reporting and verification of greenhouse gas emissions has been operating in Ukraine since January 1, 2021, but after the introduction of martial law, reporting under the MRV became voluntary in accordance with the Law of Ukraine “On Protection of the Interests of Subjects of Submission of Reports and Other Documents during Martial Law or a State of War”. Now, after being signed by the President, Law No. 4187-IX on the restoration of the MRV is to be published and will come into force on the day following its publication. From that moment on, reporting under the MRV by plant operators will become mandatory again.
The new law also supplements the Law of Ukraine “On the Principles of Monitoring, Reporting and Verification of Greenhouse Gas Emissions” with new articles and clauses relating to the maintenance of the Unified Register for Monitoring, Reporting and Verification of Greenhouse Gas Emissions. This is due to the need to bring it in line with the Law of Ukraine “On Public Electronic Registers”.
What timeframe provides for the Ministry of Ministry of Internal Affairs
Ecopolitic analyzed the text of Law No. 4187-IX, signed by the chairman of the parliament.
Paragraph 2 (subparagraph 2) indicates:
- The law allows operators not to submit reports for 2021, 2022 and 2023 reporting years;
- Operators are obliged to submit a report for 2024. In this case, the term of submission extends: the deadline will not be March 31, 2025, as before, but December 31.
We can see that the authors of the law took into account the request of business representatives and provided them with additional time to prepare reports.
If the facility is located in the territory where hostilities are taking place or in the temporarily occupied territory, the operator is obliged to register the facility in the Unified Register for Monitoring, Reporting and Verification of Greenhouse Gas Emissions, amend the information therein or cancel the state registration of the facility no later than 90 calendar days after the termination or lifting of martial law, de-occupation or restoration of partially destroyed facilities.
According to the law on the restoration of the MRV, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine will have only 3 months to prepare the regulatory documents for this law from the date of its entry into force.
The full text of the Law No. 4187-IX on the restoration of the MRV is available on the website of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine in the document card.
Earlier, EcoPolitic wrote, that, on January 8, the Parliament approved in the second reading the draft law No. 12131 “On Amendments to Certain Laws of Ukraine on the Restoration of Monitoring, Reporting and Verification of Greenhouse Gas Emissions”, which provides for the restoration of the system of monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV) of greenhouse gas emissions.
