Kiev chosen for EU green makeover

The EBRD’s EBRD Green Cities has chosen Kiev as the 21st city to commit to a green makeover. Kiev becomes the second Ukrainian city, after Lviv, to join.

Through a Memorandum of Understanding signed on Friday by Mayor Vitali Klitschko and Susan Goeransson, the EBRD’s Director, Head of Infra - Europe, Kiev has now committed to formulating a tailor-made Green City Action Plan that will shape its unique response to its environmental needs and build a better and more sustainable future for residents. An initial “trigger” project in the Kiev transport sector, on which the EBRD and city authorities cooperate, will cement the engagement.

The €1 billion Green Cities programme focuses on cities which represent a major opportunity to address environmental challenges including mitigating climate change. This is particularly true of cities in the EBRD regions where obsolete urban infrastructure is degrading the quality of life of citizens, increasing greenhouse gas emissions, and preventing communities from adapting to climate change.

EBRD Green Cities has already signed up 21 cities and quadrupled its financing since its launch in 2016. Now the successful programme is set to expand further. The EBRD’s draft Municipal and Environmental Infrastructure Strategy for the next five years to 2024 envisages that the Bank will provide green and sustainable financing to over 100 cities by 2024.

With its comprehensive business model for sustainable urban development, combining strategic planning with investment and associated technical assistance, EBRD Green Cities is helping the EBRD achieve its ambition to increase the volume of its green financing under its Green Economy Transition (GET) approach to 40 per cent of annual investment by 2020.

Source: EBRD

UAP Comment

Whatever you think about the truth of “climate change” (formerly called “global warming”), this commitment by the financial arm of the EU represents more investment in Kiev. And part of a program to westernise and modernise the country.