KYIV. Sept 21 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The European Union (EU) and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) under the EBRD’s Finance and Technology Transfer Centre for Climate Change (FINTECC) programme have provided Climate Innovation Vouchers (CIVs) worth EUR 160,000 to six Ukrainian companies: VTS Komplect (Dnipro), Engineering Innovations (Lviv), Ecoisme, Elektrokars, Institute of Ecology and Energy Saving and Ukrcenter-Group (all based in Kyiv).
The EBRD said in a report that the CIV project, with a total budget of EUR 1 million, will support around 50 innovative projects in Ukraine until the end of 2018.
According to the press release, vouchers for individual projects may range from EUR 20,000 to EUR 50,000 depending on their innovativeness, complexity and potential benefit. Further recipients will be identified via three more rounds of the competitive selection process.
The CIV project is implemented by a local NGO Greencubator. Ukraine has become the first of the EBRD’s countries of operations to benefit from the CIVs.
EBRD Associate Director for Energy Efficiency and Climate Change Sergiy Maslichenko said that over 40 companies from different regions of Ukraine competed for the innovation vouchers.
The CIV project aims at the development and improvement of technologies reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and improving energy consumption in Ukraine.
Ecoisme is raising funds for energy monitor for effective electricity consumption, Elektrokars for billing systems for electro-car charging stations, Engineering Innovations for prefabricated reinforced-concrete construction technology, Institute of Ecology and Energy Saving for software for the operation of solid-fuel boilers, VTS Komplect for a household cardboard recuperator and Ukrcenter-Group for Hempire Mix insulation material.
The EBRD’s FINTECC programme is designed to transfer technology in the area of climate change mitigation and adaptation and was launched in Ukraine in February 2016. The three-year FINTECC programme is supported by $7 million of grant funding from the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and a EUR 4 million grant from the EU’s NIF.
The EBRD is the largest international financial investor in Ukraine. To date, the Bank has made a cumulative commitment of almost EUR 11.6 billion through 383 projects since the start of its operations in the country in 1993.
