14,000 Ukrainian residents held a peaceful protest last Friday along with the Energy Transition Coalition, Fridays for Future, and Extinction Rebellion urging the Ministry of the Environment and Energy in Kyiv to transition over to 100 percent renewable energy by 2050.
The residents signed a petition to shut down all existing coal-fired and nuclear power plants and halt all construction of any new ones by 2035. They also proposed investing in more renewable energy sources, green public transportation, and having more balanced energy distribution.
Managing Director of 350.org in Eastern Europe, Caucasus and Central Asia, Svitlana Romanko left comment:
After our 7 cities and Association of Small Cities (160 cities) have made a commitment to 100% RE by 2050, the public pressure on the national government to develop ambitious official RE targets only increased. The Concept of Green Energy Transition is a final concept draft of a State Strategy, which mentions our initiative of 100% RE commitments in the cities, officially recognizing it at the same level and importance as a Covenant of Mayors. It also foresees the establishment of special state funds and state programs to fund the municipal energy transition in the cities. Given all positive aspects, this Concept still doesn’t reflect and defend the rights of frontline communities facing the mining of fossil fuels and doesn’t exclude coal and gas mining from state priorities in the coming years.
The Concept document states, in Ukraine, carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions are the main issue to help reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. This means they need to stop burning fossil fuels like coal, gas, and oil to achieve these goals.
The Coalition commented on the current energy transition set out by the Ukrainian government: “In the Concept, the Ministry has set a goal of reaching 70% of RES in electricity production by 2050. We believe that this is not an ambitious goal. After all, on September 20, 2019, Minister Oleksiy Orzhel stated that Ukraine should reach 100% of renewable energy sources in the overall energy balance much earlier than till 2050.”
The Ukrainian government is not allowing the country’s citizens [to] have the right to speak, join community discussions, nor care how it affects the locals’ health, as 350.org’s local campaigner Julia Pashkovska explains:
While the government carries on the extraction of fossil fuels, the rights of frontline communities in those places are being seriously violated. What happened to the promise of the Minister given during the Climate Strike Mobilisation last September, to make a transition to 100% RE even earlier than by 2050? Local impacted communities are not only being disrespected but also excluded from public debates they should be participating in. Ministry representatives did not approve the registration to this roundtable to a representative of Merefa, the local community at the largest Ukrainian gas shield, where shale gas will be extracted by hydraulic fracturing, presenting a huge risk of loss of drinking water.
Minister of Energy Oleksiy Orzhel responded:
A few days ago we changed the legislation and let the companies extract fossil fuels with no approval from the local community. We consider this to be the right decision. But we are up to follow the land approval and strategic impact assessment before mining.
Fast forward to 2020 and the Minister said, the reduction goal is 40% by 2050, with the large share of that coming from nuclear energy, which is not acceptable for Ukrainian citizens.
These ridiculously low numbers set forth by Oleksiy Orzhel and Ukraine are a slap in the face to the country’s citizens and the rest of the world. Some world leaders do not realize that there is only one planet, one that we’re all currently on. These policies have far-reaching effects, not just for the Ukrainian people, but for the entire world.
