Approval of the nationally determined contribution to the Paris Agreement is a step that brings Ukraine closer to the European Green Deal and to the implementation of the provisions of the Association Agreement with the EU. This was stated by Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal during a meeting dedicated to a discussion of the preparation of Ukraine’s second national contribution to the Paris Agreement, which took place under his chairmanship on March 16.

Roman Abramovskyy, Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources, Ihor Petrashko, Minister of Economic Development, Trade and Agriculture, and Serhii Marchenko, Minister of Finance, also joined the meeting online.

According to the Prime Minister, the development and submission of the Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) of Ukraine is a mandatory requirement of the Paris Agreement. According to him, the second NDC should be submitted by Ukraine to the Secretariat of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and should contain goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to climate change.

"The Government of Ukraine is making every effort to gradually transform the national economy in the direction of carbon-neutral development. The obligations, which will be outlined in the second Nationally Determined Contribution, will set the trajectory of Ukraine’s economic development for at least 10 years," Denys Shmyhal said.

For his part, the Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources Roman Abramovsky stressed that the directions of economic development must be balanced.

"Ukraine is an active participant in the global fight against climate change and adaptation to it. That is why today our main task is to ensure that the second NDC under the Paris Agreement, formed in the final, meets the long-term goal of achieving carbon neutrality no later than 2060, but is realistic. Vectors of development of sectors of the Ukrainian economy must be economically and ecologically balanced," Roman Abramovskyy said.

The Prime Minister stressed that the Government shares the EU's vision of the need to increase the ambition of climate goals and strengthen the decarbonization of the economic system. "Environmental transformation in Ukraine is an essential condition for effective environmental transformation in Europe," Denys Shmyhal accentuated.