Former ambassadors about investing in Ukraine’s future

Three former American ambassadors to Kiev, John E. Herbst, Steven Pifer and William B. Taylor, Jr.,expressed their views regarding Ukraine's current situation and its future. A new Ukraine was born in the Maidan, but the United States and Europe have thus far failed to make an adequate commitment to its success. With Ukraine’s economic output having shrunk by a quarter, the currency sharply devalued and a population fearful of an uncertain future, Ukraine is teetering on the brink.
Appropriately funding efforts to improve Ukraine’s stability is a down payment on Europe’s collective security. U.S.Congress and the Obama administration should work together to provide an additional $2 billion to $5 billion in economic support. At the same time, Washington should seek to persuade the European Union to make a similar commitment for a total of $10 billion, the optimal amount of support to allow Ukraine’s government room to maneuver. However, any future assistance package must be made conditional on the Ukrainian government’s commitment to accelerate reform and root out corruption. Read more at http://www.nytimes.com

Ukraine needs to upgrade existing nuclear reactors as it has been done in other countries

About half of electricity power generation in Ukraine comes from nuclear power plants (NPPs). Currently, there are 4 NPPs with 15 reactors that have net capacity of 13.17 gigawatt (GWe). Ukraine has lost control over territories that supplied coal for thermal power plants.  As a result, it has now faces a choice to import coal either from those territories, from Russia, or from other countries.
Ukraine also imports almost 100% of its nuclear power plant fuel from Russia with planned expansion from the USA  - in 2015 14 out of 15 reactors were supplied by Russia and 1 by the USA’s Westinghouse. One of the ways to improve the situation is to upgrade existing reactors as has been done in other countries.This will make energy cheaper, and will decrease reliance on coal, and through substitution effect can somewhat limit demand for imported gas. Read more at http://voxukraine.org/

China and Ukraine develop closer economic ties

China is one of Ukraine’s most important customers - 90% of China’s imported corn and 95% of imported sunflower oil comes from Ukraine. There are plans for China to invest in Ukraine’s energy industry, infrastructure and construction. There is also significant ongoing cooperation between two countries in military equipment production. Read more at http://www.breitbart.com

Economist: Ukraine is still at risk of long-lasting stagnation?

The economy, which shrank by about a fifth since 2013, grew by 0.7% in the third quarter, relative to the second. Consumption started to grow and firms are hiring again - the unemployment rate has fallen from 11% to 9% in recent months. The government’s finances also look much more healthy because of dramatic spending cuts, and the budget is in surplus so far for 2015.
The National Bank of Ukraine has done a good job of cleaning up the banks. In one-and-a-half years about 60 of the 180-odd banks that existed before the crisis have been shut down and others are being recapitalized. 
Yet the Hryvnia, Ukraine’s currency, which has lost 70% of its value over the past two years, is sliding again; government-bond yields are rising. A quarter of outstanding consumer loans and a third of the mortgages are in default. Real wages have fallen by 25% in the past year and high inflation has diminished the value of savings. Significant investment is needed to spur exports, since in the past three years capital spending has fallen by 40%. 
 At the same time, government's efforts to tackle corruption are not visible. The government has failed to increase the derisory salaries of civil servants, making corruption especially hard to resist. There is a risk that the hugely unpopular government may collapse, possibly opening the doors for a resurgence of pro-Russian parties. For all the improvement in Ukraine’s circumstances, the country’s prospects remain horribly uncertain.  Read more at http://www.economist.com

Key provisions of the Paris Agreement to combat climate change

Paris Agreement to combat climate change and unleash actions and investment towards a low carbon, resilient and sustainable future was agreed by 195 nations in Paris on December 12, 2015. The agreement’s main aim is to keep a global temperature rise this century well below 2 degrees Celsius and to drive efforts to limit the temperature increase even further to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.

The crucial areas identified as essential for a landmark conclusion:

- Mitigation – reducing emissions fast enough to achieve the temperature goal

- A transparency system and global stock-take – accounting for climate action

- Adaptation – strengthening ability of countries to deal with climate impacts

- Loss and damage – strengthening ability to recover from climate impacts

- Support – including finance, for nations to build clean, resilient futures

So far 188 countries contributed national climate action plans that detail their future objectives to address climate change. Countries will submit updated climate plans – called nationally determined contributions (NDCs) – every five years, thereby steadily increasing their ambition in the long-term. They will work together to define a clear roadmap on ratcheting up climate finance to USD 100 billion by 2020.

The agreement’s robust transparency and accounting system will provide clarity on countries’ implementation efforts, with flexibility for countries’ differing capabilities.

The Paris Agreement underwrites adequate support to developing nations and establishes a global goal to significantly strengthen adaptation to climate change through support and international cooperation.

The agreement includes a global stocktake starting in 2023 to assess the collective progress towards the goals of the agreement. The stocktake will be done every five years.

The agreement includes a compliance mechanism, overseen by a committee of experts that operates in a non-punitive way.

Under the Kyoto Protocol, there is now a clear and transparent accounting method for carry-over credits for the second commitment period, creating a clear set of rules.

A number of technical and implementation issues related to the existing arrangements on technology, adaptation, action for climate empowerment and capacity building were also successfully concluded.

Read more at http://newsroom.unfccc.int/

Ukraine has declared the state of emergency in the energy sector

Governmental order was adopted at the proposal of the Energy and Coal Industry Ministry "in order to overcome the effects of prolonged disruptions in the electricity market following the accidents in the united energy system of Ukraine, caused by damage to electric power plants and their components, structures, and in order to ensure reliable, smooth (stable) operation of the united energy system of Ukraine".
The state of emergency began on December 15 and will last till January 15, 2016. Read more at http://www.ukrinform.net

Sweden has launched an energy efficiency projects in Ukraine

Isabelle Lövin, Swedish Minister for Development and Cooperation tells Hromadske in an exclusive interview: “Ukraine is using three times more energy per person than an average European Union citizen. ...we are talking about a waste of energy, 60% or 70%. So you can actually save that and it's also a way to win in energy independence”. Watch more on YouTube

South Ukraine nuclear power plant got a life extension until the end of 2025

The unit 2 was shut down on 10 May, two days before the expiry of its design lifetime, for major upgrading over 300 days costing $114 million to enable a 10-year life extension. Upgrading work at the reactor included replacement of obsolete equipment and implementation of 'post-Fukushima' safety measures.
Energoatom, the state-run operator of all 15 of Ukraine's nuclear power reactors, said today that the State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate of Ukraine had approved the life extension for South Ukraine 2 at a board meeting on 7 December. The South Ukraine nuclear power plant consists of three VVER-1000 reactors with a total installed capacity of 3000 MWe. Last year, the plant generated 18.6 billion kWh of electricity, which was 5.8 billion kWh (31%) more than in 2013.  Read more at http://www.world-nuclear-news.org

Paris climate deal have signalled an end to the fossil fuel era

It took almost two decades to come to an ambitious agreement to hold states to emissions targets. Negotiators from nearly 200 countries signed on to a legal agreement in Paris to cut greenhouse gas emissions and to avoid the most dangerous effects of climate change.
The agreement, which set a new goal to reach net zero emissions in the second half of the century, sent a powerful signal to global markets, hastening the transition away from fossil fuels and to a clean energy economy.  Read more at http://www.theguardian.com/

Ukraine: costs of coal import exceeded $1.5 billion for 11 month of 2015

Total amount of coal imported so far in 2015 is 13.3 million ton. About half of the coal import came from Russia, quarter - from the U.S., and the rest - from Australia, South Africa and other countries. Net import in 2015 have increased in one and half times comparing to 2014, and in almost four times, if compared to 2013.
Dramatic drop of domestic coal production - by more than 50% during last two years, as the result of military conflict in Donbass region, led to necessity to increase its import. 85 of 150 Ukrainian coal mines are located within occupied territories in Donbass, and 60 of them are specialized in thermal coal production. Read more at http://uaenergy.com.ua

Government approved national action plan for energy efficiency till 2020

Plan, approved by the governmental resolution No. 1228 of November 25, is one of the important steps towards the implementation of 2006/32/EU directive on energy end-use efficiency and energy services. The interim goal of the national plan is to  reduce domestic energy consumption in 2017 by 5% compared to average energy consumption in 2005-2009.
Among other measures, government plans in 2016 to pass a bill on revoking customs and tax preferences for imports of energy efficient equipment and appliances, what should create equal conditions for their manufacturing within the country.  Read more at interfax.com.ua

Does Europe need expensive new Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline?

Nord Stream 2 is clearly seen as a threat to EU supply security. On 26^th November 10 EU Member States forwarded a letter to the European Commission objecting to the proposed NordStream 2 (estimated cost is EUR 10 billion) and requesting the Commission to undertake a close examination of the compatibility of the proposed new pipeline with EU law. Obviously, NordStream 2 is also a threat to Ukraine - the current transit arrangements net Ukraine more than  $2 billion of revenue per year.
To remove Western fears regarding security of natural gas supply Ukraine needs to move rapidly to fully reform its gas market. Pushing ahead with all the third energy package reforms will give EU states greater confidence in the operation of the Ukrainian gas market and Ukraine’s commitment to ensuring supply security. Read more at http://www.naturalgaseurope.com and
http://www.newsweek.com 

Financial Times about Ukrainian export and economy

Despite Ukraine’s exports have fallen sharply this year because of economic recession, the proportion going to the EU has jumped from below 25 per cent in 2012 to almost 35 per cent in the first seven months of this year. Trade with China has risen from about 5 per cent to 8 per cent in the same period. Trade with Russia halved year-on-year in the first nine months of this year — and things could get worse.
Moscow has threatened to raise tariffs and eliminate all trade preferences if the EU-Ukraine free trade deal goes fully into effect as planned in January. Though Ukraine’s economy is expected to contract by 9 per cent this year, there are signs the trend has bottomed out, with confirmation this month that third-quarter output increased 0.7 per cent from the previous quarter. Read more at http://www.ft.com