Ukraine, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the European Union and Germany have signed an agreement on the establishment of a fund to improve energy efficiency in Ukraine, the Ukrainian Finance Ministry has reported on its website. “In accordance with the agreement, up to EUR 53 million of financing provided by the EU and Germany will be under the management of IFC at the initial stage,” the Finance Ministry said. The multi-donor fund with the Ukrainian Energy Efficiency Fund will jointly finance energy efficiency projects in apartment buildings in Ukraine and provide expert support for the development of the market, the Finance Ministry said.
According to Finance Minister Oleksandr Danyliuk, the project will contribute to the creation of about 75,000 new jobs for engineers, builders and workers in the energy sector.
Nestle, one of the world’s largest producers of food products, has invested more than UAH 10 million in energy efficiency projects in Ukraine, said CEO at Nestle Ukraine Ansgar Bornemann. “The company has invested more than UAH 10 million in 22 energy efficiency projects in Ukraine. This allowed 8% energy savings,” he said at a press conference in Kyiv on Wednesday. The top manager also reported on investing UAH 1 million in 12 projects to install special environmentally friendly equipment. “This allowed us to reduce water consumption by 189 tank wagons at the company’s three factories,” he said. Nestle began operations in Ukraine in 1994 with the opening of a representative office. It markets such international brands as Nescafe, Nesquik, Nuts, Friskies, KitKat, etc.
Germany is ready to allocate EUR 10 million for projects of the Energy Efficiency Fund and EUR 4 million for the training of energy auditors and training of the Fund’s employees, Minister for Regional Development, Construction, Housing and Utilities Hennadiy Zubko has said. “The German government is ready to sign an agreement with IFC – International Finance Corporation – on adding additional EUR 10 million to the Multi-Donor Fund for co-financing the projects of the Energy Efficiency Fund of Ukraine,” Zubko wrote on his Facebook page.
He also said that the German government had agreed on the implementation of the project of technical assistance to Ukraine in the training of professional energy auditors and training of the Fund’s employees in the amount of EUR10 million.
As earlier reported, the Cabinet coordinated a joint program with the EU for financing the Energy Efficiency Fund in the amount of EUR 268 million. According to the Ministry of Regional Development’s press service, EU assistance in 2018 will be EUR 50 million, in 2019 – EUR 54 million. The press service also recalled that the financing of the Energy Efficiency Fund from the state budget will be UAH 1.6 billion in 2018.
