KYIV. Dec 17 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Ukrainian companies need to develop decarbonization strategies to attract funding for these purposes from the European Union and the country's government, Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration Olha Stefanishyna has said.

"I would urge business associations, European and Ukrainian manufacturers, first of all, perhaps, to unite companies around so that they form their own [decarbonization] strategies. This is the key to attracting funding," she said at a roundtable of the Green Deal project, organized in partnership with the EU Delegation to Ukraine, at Interfax-Ukraine on Friday.

"Financial resources have a long way to go: from the announcement of EUR 17 billion of guarantees for the partner countries [Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine] at the Eastern Partnership summit to the fact that these funds were attracted for a specific public or private company," Stefanishyna said.

The Deputy Prime Minister said that every business wants to be profit-making, and "the state will not simply subsidize this process."

"Companies must determine their priorities, form their strategies, and then the Ukrainian state will be able to send funding, understanding what vision a particular sector has in this direction," she said.

Head of the support group for Ukraine in the European Commission Katarína Mathernová, who, along with Stefanishyna, leads the dialogue between Ukraine and the EU on the EU Green Deal, recalled that a platform has been created within the framework of the dialogue to raise funds to finance Ukraine's green transition.

"This mechanism could attract both direct funding and funding from member countries, bilateral donors and international financial institutions," Mathernová said during the discussion.

According to Coordinator of the Committee on Industrial Ecology and Sustainable Development of the European Business Association Olha Boiko, Ukrainian business already has its own plans on reducing harmful emissions, and companies would like the plans of business and government to be synchronized.

"As practice shows, not always business strategies can be so immediately adjusted, to put it mildly, to the obligations that the government undertakes, especially at international meetings," she said.

Boiko also proposed to involve the deputies of the Verkhovna Rada in the dialogue between Ukraine and the EU on the Green Deal.

Speaking about the concept of the Ukrainian Climate Fund, which, according to ex-minister of Ecology Roman Abramovsky, should be launched at the beginning of 2023, Deputy Minister of Environment and Natural Resources of Ukraine Iryna Stavchuk said that at present, "the work rests on understanding what kind of sectors need such support, what are the biggest barriers to project creation – both financial and regulatory."

Discussing the increase in the carbon tax in Ukraine and the creation of an emissions trading system (ETS), Stavchuk said that as international experts advise the ministry, the carbon tax should be increased gradually then to smoothly transfer to the ETS.

The launch of the ETS in Ukraine, according to the Deputy Minister, is expected in 2025-2027.