Climate conference COP26 kicked off in Glasgow, attended by dozens of world leaders. Experts from organizations that are part of the CAN EECCA network are closely following the negotiations. Below you can see their comments on the speeches of the representatives of their countries.
Before the start of the conference, the CAN EECCA network, which includes 60 environmental organizations, for the first time in its history prepared a common consolidated position addressed to the authorities of the countries of the region and international community.
CAN EECCA network organizations operate in 11 countries though representatives only of 5 of them took part in the COP26 Leaders Summit: Ukraine, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Armenia. All of them have prepared beautiful speeches, but only a few have announced specific measures that they intend to take to combat the climate crisis.
Ukraine
“Our goals are to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 65% by 2030 (a 65% reduction compared to 1990, which is implied here, means that emissions from the 2019 level will decrease by only 6.5%, ed.) and to achieve climate neutrality not later than 2060.” – said the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky. “In my opinion, in order to defeat [climate] global warming, we need global warming in relations between countries, where trust is melting every year.” – added Zelensky. The President also said that countries need to measure not only financial, but primarily environmental growth, not only GDP and inflation, but above all the level of cleanliness of air, water and land.
“In Ukraine, there is no long-term vision for the сlimate policy and for separate sectors that directly affect the climate. I wanted to hear the president’s statement about the readiness for real action, the date of coal phase out, the readiness to support the development of renewable sources, ensuring energy efficiency, allocating funds for counteracting and adapting to climate change, and finding internal resources for fulfillment of existing (not ambitious) goals. Unfortunately, it did not happen. Without this vision, Ukraine will not be able to be a worthy player in this global struggle,” – commented Yevgenia Zasyadko, head of the climate department at the NGO “Ekodiya”.
Georgia
“The Caucasus – a beautiful land of mountains, glaciers, and rivers — has already lost 40 percent of its glaciers. During the last two decades alone, the speed of glacier loss in the eastern Georgia has exceeded projections from the end of the twentieth century.” – said Irakli Garibashvili, Prime Minister of Georgia. He added: “For its part, Georgia will achieve this by diversifying its renewable energy sector; expanding the share of wind and solar segments in its energy market; transforming the country’s urban mobility; developing low-carbon approaches in the construction, industrial, and waste sectors; advancing climate-smart technologies and services; and increasing the carbon-capturing capacity of Georgia’s magnificent forests”.
“We are glad that the Georgian delegation with the leadership of the Prime Minister is participating in the COP26 negotiations in Glasgow. As the Prime Minister stated: “No one should be left behind in this fight!”. It’s true and we need to see it in each policy and action in Georgia. We also need to have climate change issues as a priority in our social-political agenda, which we do not feel so far. Georgia is progressing in having national climate documents, however, their implementation and all the economic sectors and social groups collaboration will be crucial. If Georgia really is serious about climate issues, we need to have a dedicated ministry of environment to execute all these plans.” – comments Mariam Davidze from Green Alternative NGO.
Kazakhstan
“Kazakhstan will increase the volume of energy from renewable sources 5 times from 3% to 15%, energy production from environmentally friendly sources – 2 times from 20% to 38%. The potential for carbon capture will be increased by planting over 2 billion trees by 2025. It is planned that the share of energy generated from coal will decrease from 70% to 40%,” – Prime Minister of Kazakhstan Askar Mamin said.
“The legislative framework in the field of environment protection and sustainable development is rapidly improving in Kazakhstan. International cooperation for joint efforts to respond to climate change is growing stronger, and significant reforms are being carried out. But implementation of policies in the regions is unfortunately still weak. Very ambitious goals have been set that are difficult to achieve in practice. In addition, there are many conflicting decisions. For example, can planned construction of waste incineration plants really be attributed to an environmentally friendly source of energy generation?” – comments Lyudmila Petrova, CSO “Angel”.
Kyrgyzstan
“Kyrgyzstan will try to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050 on its green development platform. The driving force behind this carbon-free policy will be renewable energy sources, primarily hydropower. ” – said the President of Kyrgyzstan Sadyr Japarov during his speech. He also proposed to create a separate fund to finance mountainous countries, since mountainous countries are most vulnerable to the effects of climate change. 94% of Kyrgyzstan’s relief is mountains, and the country is also prone to climatic problems such as melting glaciers, water scarcity and an energy crisis.
“We are undoubtedly pleased with the participation of the country’s president in high-level climate negotiations. Kyrgyzstan has revised its national contributions before this event and now they are, according to the developers, quite ambitious. The president’s speech was generally reassuring, but it is necessary to focus on the development of other renewable energy sources, for example solar and wind energy, as well as cooperate with the civil sector and experts, to demonstrate the openness and transparency of the state in resolving the climate crisis “, – Maria Kolesnikova, director of the MoveGreen NGO.
Armenia
“The long-term objective of Armenia is to achieve climate neutrality in the second half of this century. Transition to climate neutrality is at the core of the country’s energy independence, energy security and green growth policies. Our vision of resilient and low-carbon growth is directly connected to a solid and effective adaptation strategy based on an ecosystem approach, reforestation, investments in renewable energy and energy efficiency, new high technologies, promotion of electric mobility and further development of nuclear energy.” – said the President of Armenia, Armen Sargsyan.
“The speech of the Armenian President did not disappoint only because it was not unexpected from the point of view of Armenia’s position on the NDC. Alas, “a 40 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 from 1990 levels” means nothing more than a 50% increase in current emissions. This, let us say, populist trick is used, as a rule, by some former USSR countries, which had a deep recession in the economy and, as a result, in greenhouse gas emissions. In 1990 Armenia’s emissions amounted to 25 million tons, and the current level is about 10 million tons. – said Amalia Hambartsumyan and Aram Gabrielyan from the NGO “Khazer”. The CAN network also does not support plans for the development of nuclear energy, because it is a very expensive, time-consuming, dangerous source of energy, and the problem of waste disposal has not yet been resolved.
“We have heard many good statements – Kyrgyzstan and Armenia plan to officially approve the goal of climate neutrality, Ukraine and Kazakhstan intend not to deviate from this path and achieve the goal by 2060. Georgia, Armenia and Kyrgyzstan are some of the most vulnerable countries in our region. They need additional funding to adapt and cover loss and damage from climate disasters. At the same time, countries with a large amount of industry, like Ukraine and Kazakhstan, should reduce the use of fossil fuels and declare a date for the complete phase out. The fact that until 2030 Kazakhstan will still be dependent on coal in its energy balance by 40% will only add economic challenges to the country. It is necessary to understand that climate action is not a whim of the UN, activists or anyone else, it is a necessary survival measure for all of us,” – comments Olha Boiko, coordinator of CAN EECCA.
The Common Aviation Area (CAA) agreement will be signed at the Ukraine-EU summit in Kyiv on Tuesday, October 12, a senior EU official has said.
He said at a briefing in Monday that three agreements will be signed at the summit. The first is the CAA agreement, which, in simple words, will improve communication between the two parties, and create conditions for new commercial opportunities for the airlines of Ukraine and the EU member states, he said.
According to him, the agreement will open Ukraine to some low-cost airlines, which will increase the number of travelers and will significantly contribute to the growth of the Ukrainian economy in the field of tourism.
Also, two more agreements will be signed: on the association of Ukraine with Horizon Europe, the European Framework Programme for research and innovation and with the Creative Europe programme.
The EU official said that the summit will provide an opportunity to discuss the results achieved in the implementation of the Ukraine-EU association agreement.
The review of the result will be launched at the summit and should be finalized next year. At the moment, the EU and Ukraine are exchanging respective assessments to present a common assessment at the bilateral summit in Brussels in 2022, he said.
The official said that the summit will provide an opportunity for the EU to reaffirm its continued commitment to strengthening Ukraine’s political association and economic integration with the EU.
It is vital that the EU continues to work closely with Ukraine to strengthen the rule of law and enhance and promote further reforms, he said. In this context, he touched on the particular importance of a comprehensive and consistent implementation of judicial reforms and the ongoing fight against corruption. Both of them are key, the official said.
In addition, he spoke about the EU’s plans to launch an investment package for Ukraine worth EUR 6.5 billion as part of the economic investment program.
He also said that the central theme at the summit will be security.
He said that he expects the leaders at the summit to reaffirm the EU’s commitment to implement and adhere to appropriate non-recognition policies, including restrictive measures. He said that there will also be a discussion about what we can do together to counter some of the hybrid threats and counter disinformation, which the EU and Ukraine often faces.
The official said that the summit will point out the need for the reform process in Ukraine to continue and be fully implemented. Further commitment is needed to ensure that the reform process becomes irreversible, especially in the area of the rule of law and the judiciary, he said.
The 23rd Ukraine-EU summit will take place on Tuesday, October 12, in Kyiv. It will start at 9.00. The EU will be represented at the summit by President of the European Council Charles Michel and President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen. Thus, Michel will visit Ukraine for the third time starting in March.
Head of the EU Delegation to Ukraine Matti Maasikas took part in a meeting of the Coordination Commission for the Implementation of the Association Agreement and discussed with members of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine preparations for the Ukraine-EU summit scheduled for October 12.
“Very honoured to be invited to speak (the Ukrainian language) at the Ukrainian Cabinet’s Coordination Commission meeting on the implementation of our Association agreement. Preparations for the October 12 EU-Ukraine Summit, swift implementation of the justice reform, energy market issues discussed,” Maasikas wrote on Twitter on Wednesday.
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.
The Eastern Partnership Summit will take place in December, EU High Representative for Common Foreign and Security Policy Josep Borrell said in Brussels on Thursday following a meeting with the foreign ministers of the three Eastern Partnership countries – Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia.
The ministers of the three countries visited the EU capital for the first time in the format of the so-called Associated Trio.
“This year is an important year for the Eastern Partnership. Together with the Commission, we are in the process of finalizing the post-2020 agenda, which contains concrete deliverables and targets. Our Eastern Partnership summit will take place in December. I understand that all of us are sorry for the fact that it has [previously] been postponed, as has also happened with other summits. But in December, when this summit will take place, we will have an opportunity to set this new agenda in motion, and to agree on a common vision for the future,” he said.
Borrell said the EU is looking forward to further development of relations with the countries of the Eastern Partnership, which are “based on the principles of inclusivity and differentiation. Both have to be taken together and this will require flexibility from both parts.”
The Russian-American summit in Geneva on June 16 will last five hours, according to the protocol program.
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s arrival at the Villa La Grande and a joint photo session with United States President Joe Biden and Swiss President Guy Parmelin are scheduled for 1:00 p.m. local time, according to documents released by the Kremlin press service ahead of the event.
The conversation between the U.S. and Russian presidents on the ground floor in a library is due to begin at 1:15 p.m.
The Russian-U.S. talks in an expanded format are schedule to begin at 2:30 p.m.
These talks will resume after a break at 4:15 p.m.
The Russian president’s press conference is due to begin at 6:00 p.m.
