Roman Nitsovych: Ukraine Stands a Good Chance to Achieve Decoupling
The discussion, dedicated to decoupling, took place at the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Fuel and Energy Complex, Nuclear Policy and Nuclear Safety.
It was attended by MPs, representatives of the Ministry of Energy and Coal Industry of Ukraine, the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources of Ukraine, the EU Support Group for Ukraine, the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, associations, international and civil society organizations. DiXi Group Analytical Centre was represented by Roman Nitsovych, Program Manager.
Decoupling means breaking the link between economic growth rates and natural resource consumption, greenhouse gas emissions and adverse environmental effects.
“Ukraine stands a good chance to achieve decoupling, i.e. economic growth combined with reduction in energy consumption”, stated Roman Nitsovych, Program Manager, DiXi Group. “Our Government should set more ambitious energy efficiency targets in strategies and specific action plans. The Verkhovna Rada should provide a legal framework for creation of transparent markets and development of more efficient industries”.
According to him, in addition to switching state programs to the green sector support, Ukraine’s transformation may be facilitated by essential market mechanisms, such as transparent and fair prices for energy generated from different sources, suppliers’ competition to win new consumers, and commercial metering.
It should be mentioned that, according to the International Energy Agency, in 2013 Ukraine’s energy intensity was 2.6 and 2.4 times more than the OECD average. Such low level of energy efficiency in the country in general and in energy-intensive sectors in particular presents a challenge to the national economy competitiveness.
