Russia’s targeted strikes on the Ukrainian energy system brought into focus the topic of local communities' energy resilience and independence. Many Ukrainian communities are ready for – indeed, are demanding – renewable energy solutions that can strengthen their energy security and sustainability. The main obstacle to this remains a financial one. New ways are required to support renewables in Ukrainian communities, but what might they look like?
This discussion will showcase implemented or on-going projects, and describe their economic, energy, and humanitarian performance; look at new ways to support Renewable Energy Storage (RES) initiatives in Ukrainian communities during the ongoing war; utilise these evidence bases to demonstrate to international financial institutions (IFIs) and private investors that many Ukrainian communities can be reliable partners for investment and collaboration.
Meet the speakers
Pavel Bilek is a senior consultant at Berlin Economics, where he advises governments on topics related to energy, natural resource and development economics, as well as the Deputy Head of the Low Carbon Ukraine project, through which he has been working on the green reconstruction of Ukraine. Pavel has also previously consulted the European Commission, the World Bank, the International Energy Agency and ASEAN, among others. He holds a BSc in International Relations and History from the London School of Economics and Political Science and an MPhil in Development Studies from the University of Cambridge.
Mykola Borovets is the head of the Zviahel city territorial community, currently serving his third term. He supports the development of renewable energy in Zviahel, which is currently planning to establish a long-term municipal program for the introduction of renewable energy sources. Furthermore, with the support of NGO Ecoclub, a solar station has been installed at the local hospital in 2022. As a result, the local council witnessing the benefits from a real example have allocated more than GBP 130 000 for the installation of solar panels at the local water treatment plant.
Oleksandr Lysenko has been heading the Sumy City Council since 2014. On the path toward climate neutrality, Mr Lysenko has identified scaling-up of the deployment of renewables as a top priority. Currently, the community is developing a strategic document, the Sustainable Energy and Climate Action Plan until 2050. In collaboration with NGO Ecoclub, a solar station will be installed in 2023 at one of Sumy's hospitals, as well as on the greenhouse building within the local Botanical Garden, which is part of the nature reserve fund.
Andriy Martynyuk is the Executive Director of NGO Ecoclub and an environmental engineer by education. He has led Ecoclub for the last 17 years during which the organization, together with municipalities, has been preparing both individual solutions to support energy efficiency measures in communities and action plans for decades. Andriy is an author of publications about climate governance in Ukrainian municipalities and is involved in public planning of green post-war reconstruction of Ukraine.
Meet the Chair
Luke Cooper (@lukecooper100) is an Associate Professorial Research Fellow at the Conflict and Civicness Research Group, based at LSE IDEAS, LSE's in house foreign policy think tank and Director of PeaceRep's Ukraine programme, an action orientated research programme that seeks to provide data, evidence and analysis in support of Ukraine's democratic institutions and territorial integrity. He is the author of Market economics in an all-out war? Assessing economic risks to the Ukrainian war effort (LSE, 2022) and Authoritarian Contagion: The Global Threat to Democracy (Bristol University Press, 2021).
More about this event
This event is organised by the PeaceRep's Ukraine programme, which is part of the Conflict and Civicness Research Group, based at LSE IDEAS. PeaceRep (Peace and Conflict Resolution Evidence Platform) is an international research project rethinking peace and transition processes in light of changing conflict dynamics led by the University of Edinburgh Law School. PeaceRep’s Ukraine programme is led by the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) and provides cutting edge analysis and evidence to support Ukraine’s territorial integrity, democratic institutions and rule of law system in the face of Russian invasion.
This event is part of the suite of activity PeaceRep’s Ukraine programme is undertaking in the run-up to the London Ukraine Recovery Conference and is organised in partnership with the following organisations: EcoAction was founded in 2017 and is the biggest Ukrainian environmental NGO with a staff of more than 35 people. EcoAction advocates for ambitious climate and energy goals for Ukraine. Since the start of the Russian full-scale invasion it has focused on the topics of Ukraine's green reconstruction and energy security, which includes a decentralized energy system based on renewables. EcoClub is a Ukrainian NGO based in Rivne that has been working for over 20 years to preserve the environment. More than 10 of them are in the field of energy saving, because energy has the most detrimental effect on the environment. Currently, Ecoclub is running the Solar Aid for Ukraine campaign, which helps communities provide electricity to hospitals and water utilities using solar power plants. CEE Bankwatch Network is a global network which operates in central and eastern Europe. Bankwatch was set up in 1995 and it focuses on monitoring the actions of different international financial institutions, while publicizing and exposing potential risks of the projects to the public in order to address environmental, social and economical causes.
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