ZHYTOMYR INITIATED “CLIMATE AMBITION FORUM” 07.04.2020

On February 27, the Climate Forum “Increasing Climate Ambitions: the Position of Local Self-Governing Authorities and Youth” was held in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine.

The forum was initiated by the deputy of Zhytomyr City Council Iryna Yarmolenko. The co-organizers were the NGO Center for Public Communications, NGO “League of Interns”, the Ukrainian Climate Network, in cooperation with the Association of Ukrainian Cities and with the support of the EU Delegation to Ukraine and UNDP, together with the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Environmental Policy and Environmental Management.

The Forum was held in synergy with representatives of the national government, representatives of local self-governning authorities, youth, non-governmental organizations, including women’s and environmental organizations. During the event, the discussion was held about the opportunities to increase the climate ambitions of local self-governing authorities, the impact of youth on the development and implementation of climate solutions and projects. Within this Forum, an Appeal to the Government was transmitted and a Memorandum on Cooperation was signed between the Association of Metropolitan Cities of America and the Association of Ukrainian Cities.

As Iryna Stavchuk, Deputy Minister of Energy and Environmental Protection of Ukraine, noted at the beginning of the forum: “Addressing the climate issue is a matter of many areas. Strong communities are the foundation of the country’s development”.

In his speech, EU representative in Ukraine Krzysztof Gierulski stated that the European Council is on the front line of the International actions to combat climate change. The ambitious targets by 2020 have been met, in particular, CO2 emissions have reduced by 20%, whereas economic indicators have increased by 6%, but this is not enough: “We need changes; policy is not enough for these changes, there is a need for implementation and initiation of laws at all levels. This is a challenge for Ukraine, which requires high activity of the community and youth, in particular. Reforms from top to bottom are not effective. One of the points of the new green Agreement is aimed at making Europe the first continent free of CO2.

Markus Brand, UNDP Democratic Governor Advisor in Ukraine: “This is a special event. Agreements alone are not enough. People will not read them, something must be done. The phenomenon today – because of the coronavirus, CO2 use in China has decreased by a quarter, accounting for 6% of global emissions”.

Oleksandr Slobozhan, Executive Director of the Association of Ukrainian Cities, spoke about the role of the Municipalities in the implementation of climate policy: “70% of CO2 emissions come from cities. The transition to Renewable Energy Sources (RES) is an important component of urban development”. Today, only 7 cities have declared a 100% transition to RES by 2050, including Zhytomyr. The major challenges the cities are facing are the need for large investments, the lack of communication at different levels”. A proposal was also made to create and approve a nationwide 100% RES transition strategy by 2050. “We need to focus on youth. The youth will change this country”, Alexander noted.

Serhii Sukhomlyn, Mayor of Zhytomyr, presented the city’s best practices, first of all, the thermal modernization of buildings, the development of the water supply system. Zhytomyr is the first city in Europe which has 100% LED street lighting. The importance of investing in energy efficiency was also emphasized.

Kyrylo Tomliak, project manager of the Climatic Drops project, shared another interesting experience. This app (Climatic Drops) tracks and rewards environmentally friendly actions to protect the planet’s environment and climate. http://kt-energy.com.ua/projects/klimatychni-krapli/

Hugo Agro from the Portuguese Association of Youth Initiatives presented the Portuguese experience of involving youth in environmentally friendly actions: “In the course of activity, youth creates a product that promotes the state’s environmental potential”.

Sebastian Navarro, general secretary of the Capital Cities Association of America, shared the experience of American cities: “Climate change is a big problem today. The signing of the Paris Agreement in 2020 is an important milestone in history. It is important to create a Ukrainian network of cities to combat climate change and gain state support. I am convinced that there is now a generation that will transform and solve this problem. Let’s do it together!”.

At the end of the forum, the participants expressed their hope that it would become traditional, an initiative group will be created and a resolution of the next steps would be developed. “It is important to us that different social groups participated in the forum, and they will go home to change their centers, having close contact with us”, said Iryna Yarmolenko.

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