The metallurgical industry will play a key role in achieving Ukraine’s carbon neutrality, according to representatives of the largest Ukrainian metallurgical companies speaking during the international forum “Decarbonization of the Steel Industry: a Challenge for Ukraine” taking place in Kyiv.
According to a press release from GMK Center, the ambitious plans of the EU and the United States to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050 are putting pressure on Ukrainian metallurgical companies. To compete successfully on foreign markets, Ukrainian producers also need to have CO2 reduction targets and decarbonization strategies.
“Now Metinvest is developing a detailed roadmap to reduce CO2 emissions. We are very careful in working out each step that will eventually lead our production to carbon neutrality, because such a large-scale transformation should not harm the sustainability of our business. We hope to conclude partnerships today, which will allow us to follow the path of decarbonization,” CEO of Metinvest Group Yuriy Ryzhenkov said during the event.
During the forum, Metinvest signed two memorandums of cooperation for the implementation of joint projects to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. One of them was signed with Primetals Technologies – an international company providing a full range of technologies, products and services for the metallurgical industry, the other – with K1-MET – a leading Austrian research center in metallurgy.
The press release notes that Ukraine actively declares its intention to follow the direction of decarbonization. In January 2020, the country presented the Green Energy Transition Concept, which sets a goal to achieve a carbon neutral economy by 2070.
In April 2021, the government presented the draft of the second Nationally Determined Contribution to the Paris agreement. It assumes that Ukraine by 2030 will reduce CO2 emissions by 65% compared to 1990, in particular industrial enterprises – by 61%.
Since July 2020, some 1.3 million Ukrainian tourists have visited Egypt, among them about 30 cases of the coronavirus (COVID-19) disease have been recorded during this period, Vice Minister for Tourism at the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities of Egypt Ghada Shalaby told reporters on Wednesday.
According to her, during the specified period, among Ukrainian tourists vacationing in Egypt, one or two deaths from COVID-19 were recorded.
Shalaby said that currently, in the main resort regions of Egypt – Sharm el-Sheikh and Hurghada, 400 beds have been prepared for tourists in hospitals, where they can be hospitalized in case of a severe course of COVID-19.
In these clinics, 120 lung ventilators are installed, to which patients can be connected if necessary.
According to Shalaby, if a foreign tourist needs to be hospitalized with COVID-19 in other regions, in particular in Cairo, local clinics are used, in which there is no shortage of places for tourists.
There are always places in clinics if necessary, she said.
Shalaby said that the treatment of tourists from COVID-19 is covered by insurance that tourists purchase.
Commenting on the issues of vaccination against COVID-19, Shalaby said that Egypt recognizes all vaccines registered in the world, including the Russian Sputnik-V vaccine and documents confirming the completion of the full vaccination course.
She did not rule out that over time, Egypt will be able to offer tourists the opportunity to vaccinate against COVID-19 on commercial terms.
Shalaby said that Egypt’s tourism workers are currently being actively vaccinated.
She said that those workers in the tourism industry who have not yet been vaccinated are transferred to those areas of work where there is no direct contact with tourists. Only vaccinated people work with tourists.
Shalaby said the authorities have now increased the allowed hotel occupancy rate from 50% to 70%. At the same time, she predicts that this figure is unlikely to be increased in the near future.
It is unlikely that 100% hotel occupancy will be accommodated, Shalaby said.
The Ukrainian industrial company Interpipe intends to implement a number of projects in the next three years, taking into account the environmental component in the amount of $100 million, Denys Morozov, the First Deputy Director General of Interpipe, said at the first international forum “Decarbonization of the Steel Industry: a Challenge for Ukraine.”
“If we do not engage in decarbonization, then in the next 20-30 years the climate can be irreversibly changed,” Morozov stated.
According to him, in addition to an economic effect, all these investments have an obligatory environmental component. Among the projects, the top manager highlighted the construction of a wheelset assembly workshop for the EU and U.S. markets, the construction of a new thermal department at Interpipe Niko Tube, and the installation of a new hydraulic press at Interpipe Nyzhniodniprovsky Pipe Rolling Plant. Thanks to the implementation of these projects, both emissions of harmful substances and water consumption will be reduced.
The company will also continue to work on further reducing emissions of CO2 and other harmful substances, waste treatment, and increasing energy efficiency of production.
The expert stated that the issues of climate and decarbonization of the economy are now on the agenda of all the leading countries of the world. The European Union has adopted a special program called Green Deal, according to which the achievement of climate neutrality on the European continent is planned by 2050. The decarbonization of the metallurgical industry plays an important role in it.
According to his presentation, in all developed countries the share of electrometallurgy in total steel production is dominant or significant. Thus, the leaders are the countries of the Middle East (94%), Mexico (83%), the United States (71%) and Turkey (69%). India (56%), Canada (46%) and the European Union (42%) are not far behind.
“In this regard, Ukraine looks like an outspoken outsider – the share of electrometallurgy does not exceed 5%,” Morozov noted, urging to increase it.
Rubizhne cardboard and packaging mill (Luhansk region), a leading Ukrainian manufacturer of cardboard packaging, in January-June 2021, taking into account the products of the subsidiary Trypilsky packing plant (Kyiv region), produced 135.15 million square meters of corrugated boxes, which is 17.1% more year-over-year.
According to the statistical data of the UkrPapir association provided to Interfax-Ukraine, Rubizhne cardboard and packaging mill accelerated the increase in the output of these products a little more compared to the same period in 2020 (in January-April 2021 it was 9.4%, in January-May some 11.8%) and consolidated its leadership in Ukraine.
During this period, the mills in quantity terms increased the production of components for corrugated board (cardboard and corrugated paper) by 14.8%, to 118,840 tonnes.
At the same time, the total volume of commercial products of the two plants in monetary terms increased by 37.5%, to UAH 2.542 billion.
CORRUGATED PACKAGING, OUTPUT, RUBIZHNE, RUBIZHNE CARDBOARD MILL
Ukrainian population by regions as of May 1, 2020 (graphically)
The Normady Four summit at the level of heads of state of Ukraine, Germany, France and Russia on the implementation of the project “Key clusters for the implementation of the Minsk agreements” may take place in the near future, said head of the President’s Office of Ukraine Andriy Yermak.
“The main task for all of us remains the restoration of peace [in Donbas] … One of the mechanisms for achieving peace should be the project ‘Key clusters for the implementation of the Minsk agreements’, prepared by Germany and France, which Ukraine supported. The next step should be the N4 summit, which will take place in the near future,” Yermak wrote on his Facebook page following a working visit with President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky to Germany.
He also noted that “security has become a key issue in negotiations with German colleagues.” “Nord Stream 2 is a security challenge that escalates threats to the entire region. Nord Stream 2 violates the principles of the Energy Union and EU antitrust laws, “Yermak said.
Yermak expressed hope that Germany would contribute to the formation of a common position of the European Union on European integration and Ukraine’s membership in NATO, and also stressed that “following the visit to Germany, it became obvious that no one, without taking into account the interests of Ukraine and guarantees of their observance, will decide anything.”
According to the head of the President’s Office, Germany also raised issues of threats to Ukraine due to the concentration of Russian troops near its borders, the implementation of key reforms in Ukraine, the attraction of European investors to Ukraine and the development of “green energy” in Ukraine.
