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To:the President of Ukraine, Mr. Leonid Kuchma
The Speaker of the Parliament of Ukraine, Mr. Ivan Plyushch
The Prime Minister of Ukraine, Mr. Anatoliy Kinakh

OPEN LETTER TO LEADERS OF UKRAINE

from non-governmental organizations, members of the Climate Change Working Group

Kyiv, 15 June 2001

Dear Sirs,

Since 1997 Ukraine has been а party to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. Our country signed the Kyoto Protocol that defines binding mitigation commitments of parties to the Convention to mitigate the emissions of greenhouse gases blamed for global climate change.

We, the representatives of the Ukrainian environmental movement who signed this open letter, believe that Ukraine should take the following urgent actions to comply with its commitments under the Convention:

- To develop а clear national strategy regarding global climate change and to ratify the Kyoto Protocol by the end of 2001.

At present the Inter-ministerial Commission on Climate Change, consisting of the representatives from the Cabinet of Ministers, the Parliament and President’s administration is the only Governmental body responsible for the development of an official climate policy in Ukraine. However, until the present time the commission did not manage to develop the official climate policy. The development of such policy and the official plan for global climate change mitigation is an urgent need. Active participation of our country in the international negotiation process and support of the Kyoto Protocol is highly important today, when the future of the Protocol is in danger. Ratification of this treaty by Ukraine could be а significant contribution to the international cooperation process.

- To establish а regular process of communicating the information on climate change to the public and to ensure the cooperation between general public (including Ngos) and Ukrainian governmental bodies working on the climate change issues.

According to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, which was ratified by Ukraine, all parties to the convention must “promote and co-operate in education, training and public awareness related to climate change and encourage wide participation in this process, including that of non-governmental organizations.” Free access to information and public participation in decision-making are the main principles of the Aarhus Convention that was ratified by Ukraine. At the same time the Inter-ministerial Commission takes no action to inform the public on the climate change issue. The Parliament, the Ministry for Fuel and Energy Sector and other government bodies ignore the co-operation propositions and letters from Ngos. We demand that all governmental bodies including the Inter-ministerial Commission should periodically communicate the information on the Government’s activities related to climate change mitigation to the general public through the state owned mass-media. The CCWG also demands Inter-ministerial Commission to periodically organize consultations with general public and Ngos in order to formulate а clear national climate policy in Ukraine.

- To restructure the economy of Ukraine from energy intensive to high technology industrial processes.

Ukrainian economy is based on energy intensive industries, such as metal processing, chemical and ore processing plants. Greenhouse gas emissions in Ukraine will remain at а very high level unless the economy will be restructured and based on new production technologies that use less energy and raw materials.

- To create а national office responsible for the implementation of climate change mitigation projects. The Kyoto Protocol includes international co-operation to implement greenhouse gases emission reduction projects. Participation in such projects could allow Ukraine to receive investments and significantly increase efficiency in industry, household and energy sectors. In addition, the projects of coal mine methane utilization could improve the safety of coal mines in Ukraine and become an additional source of fuel.

However, such projects should not lead to the outdated technology transfer from Western countries to Ukraine. We support the participation of Ukraine in the Joint Implementation projects and demand from the government to create а national agency responsible for the project implementation control.

- To limit the participation of Ukraine in the international greenhouse gases emissions trading.

International emissions trading will allow the industrialized countries, which are responsible for the largest share of greenhouse gas emissions, to fulfil their commitments without actually reducing their emissions, or even increasing them. This fact will complicate the task of global climate change mitigation.

‘Hot air’ allows selling emission quota that was created without investments. Thus, the cost of such quota is very low. The ‘Hot air’ will be an obstacle for technical projects implementation, since its cost is lower than the cost of technical emissions mitigation projects.

Finally, the income raised from emissions quota trading will be misused in Ukraine, since the existing mechanisms of finance distribution are not transparent and too complicated. In addition, Ukraine does not have а proper legislation to participate in the emissions trading.

- To develop incentives for the use of renewable sources of energy development and increase in energy efficiency.

Ukraine has one of the highest levels of energy intensity in the world. Energy sector is the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in our country. Increase of energy efficiency is highly important both for the climate change mitigation and for the economy of Ukraine.

Renewable energy sources do not produce additional greenhouse gas emissions. On the other hand, the power production with the use of wind, biomass, solar power and other renewables, does not use fossil fuel, therefore the use of renewable energy will reduce the dependence of Ukraine on the external fuel sources. We demand from the government to introduce the economic incentives to promote renewable energy and the increase of energy efficiency in the energy, industrial and other economic sectors.

- To preserve the existing system of public transportation and introduce incentives for private transport efficiency increase.

At present transport is not the main source of greenhouse gas emissions in Ukraine. However, while the public transportation is experiencing serious problem, the number of private vehicles has been significantly increasing. Therefore, in the future transport may become а significant source of greenhouse gas emissions in Ukraine. We demand from the government to support the system of public transportation both on the national and local level and to introduce economic incentives for the vehicle producers and importers to increase the efficiency of fuel use in private vehicles.

We, the undersigned, believe that the co-operation between the public and the government in order to fulfil the proposed measures will not only allow to significantly decrease greenhouse gas emissions in Ukraine and contribute to global climate mitigation, but will also have а significant positive effect on the economy of the country. We hope that the President, the Parliament and the Government of Ukraine will take into consideration the proposals stated in this letter in the national climate policy development process, as well as during the international climate change negotiations.

Sincerely
Members of the Ukrainian Ngos’ Working Group on Climate Change:

Andriy Konechenkov		Future Age Energy
Volodymyr Berezin		Bakhmat
Eduard Shishonkov		Ekologiya и Myr
Yevgen Kolishevsky		The Voice of Nature
Natalia Akulenko		Energy Brigades Ukraine
Olexy Pasyuk		CEE Bankwatch Network Representative in Ukraine
Petro Hrytsyshyn		World Laboratory Ukraine, Western Branch
Serghiy Fedorynchyk		‘Zeleny Svit’ Information Center
Taras Lychuk		Ecoclub Rivne
Yuri Reznikov		Khmelnytsky Regional Nature Protection Society
Yuri Urbansky		National Ecological Center of Ukraine