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IKI Ukraine Workshop 2026: Supporting Ukraine’s resilience and green recovery on the pathway to EU accession

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On 28–29 April 2026, a two-day work­shop titled “Sup­port­ing Ukraine’s Green Recov­ery and Resilience on the Path­way to EU Acces­sion” took place in Berlin. The event was organ­ised by the IKI Inter­face Ukraine project on behalf of the Ger­man Fed­er­al Min­istry for the Envi­ron­ment, Cli­mate Action, Nature Con­ser­va­tion and Nuclear Safe­ty (BMUKN) under the frame­work of the Inter­na­tion­al Cli­mate Ini­tia­tive (IKI). It brought togeth­er over 120 par­tic­i­pants, includ­ing rep­re­sen­ta­tives of the gov­ern­ments of Ukraine, Ger­many, Euro­pean Union, experts, IKI projects as well as imple­ment­ing part­ners.
Dr. Heike Henn, Direc­tor Gen­er­al “Inter­na­tion­al Cli­mate Action”, BMUKN
 
Dr. Heike Henn, Direc­tor Gen­er­al “Inter­na­tion­al Cli­mate Action”, BMUKN, reaf­firmed Germany’s com­mit­ment to Ukraine’s recov­ery, not­ing: 
Sup­port­ing Ukraine is a key pri­or­i­ty for the Ger­man gov­ern­ment. Russia’s war of aggres­sion is caus­ing severe eco­nom­ic, human, and envi­ron­men­tal dam­age. There­fore, our engage­ment is focused on Ukraine’s future in Europe — a future that is sus­tain­able, peace­ful, eco­nom­i­cal­ly sound, and in har­mo­ny with nature.
 
Dis­cus­sions explored how EU-aligned reforms, a green recov­ery under­pinned by sus­tain­able infra­struc­ture and green invest­ments, and insti­tu­tion­al coop­er­a­tion can con­tribute to strength­en Ukraine’s resilience and lay the foun­da­tions for a green recov­ery of Ukraine while sup­port­ing its path­way towards EU acces­sion and long-term eco­nom­ic resilience. In addi­tion, bilat­er­al meet­ings between rep­re­sen­ta­tives of the Ger­man and Ukrain­ian gov­ern­ments were held with­in the frame­work of the work­shop to align shared objec­tives and define joint steps for coop­er­a­tion in the cli­mate, envi­ron­men­tal and bio­di­ver­si­ty sec­tor.
 
BMUKN, through IKI, sup­ports Ukraine in green recov­ery, resilient recon­struc­tion, and align­ment with EU stan­dards. In par­tic­u­lar, on behalf of the Ger­man Fed­er­al Gov­ern­ment, IKI sup­ports Ukraine in the com­pre­hen­sive imple­men­ta­tion of cli­mate, envi­ron­ment and bio­di­ver­si­ty poli­cies. This includes work on Nation­al­ly Deter­mined Con­tri­bu­tions (NDCs), emis­sions trad­ing sys­tems (ETS), the Car­bon Bor­der Adjust­ment Mech­a­nism (CBAM), car­bon tax­a­tion reform, cli­mate change adap­ta­tion and bio­di­ver­si­ty con­ser­va­tion. BMUKN’s sup­port, through IKI, also focuss­es on ener­gy resilience with ener­gy effi­cien­cy improve­ments and pro­mo­tion of renew­able ener­gy solu­tions, as well as on green finance devel­op­ment and oth­er key areas for Ukraine’s green recovery.е
Olek­san­dr Kras­no­lut­skyi, Deputy Min­is­ter of Econ­o­my
 
On the Ukrain­ian side, the focus remains on syn­chro­niz­ing these efforts with EU stan­dards. Olek­san­dr Kras­no­lut­skyi, Deputy Min­is­ter of Econ­o­my, point­ed out: 
 
Such work­shops pro­vide an oppor­tu­ni­ty for gov­ern­ment, inter­na­tion­al part­ners, and civ­il soci­ety to engage in dia­logue. We hear dif­fer­ent opin­ions on the same chal­lenges, and it is impor­tant to find com­mon ground that enables progress in the right direc­tion. For Ukraine, that direc­tion is Euro­pean inte­gra­tion.

Ukraine’s Green Recovery and EU Integration: Advancing Climate, Environmental and Biodiversity Policies, and Energy Resilience

 
Ukraine’s recov­ery and recon­struc­tion are inter­twined with its path to EU mem­ber­ship: rebuild­ing infra­struc­ture, indus­try, munic­i­pal­i­ties, and pub­lic insti­tu­tions to Euro­pean stan­dards offers a chance for recov­ery while dri­ving long-term eco­nom­ic mod­ern­iza­tion and resilience. A green, future ori­ent­ed econ­o­my requires effec­tive cli­mate and bio­di­ver­si­ty gov­er­nance, strate­gic plan­ning, and coher­ent, com­pre­hen­sive cli­mate and envi­ron­men­tal poli­cies aligned with EU objec­tives.
 
A major mile­stone in Ukraine’s cli­mate pol­i­cy devel­op­ment was the adop­tion of its sec­ond Nation­al­ly Deter­mined Con­tri­bu­tion (2035-NDC) under the Paris Agree­ment on 29 Octo­ber 2025, set­ting a tar­get to reduce emis­sions by more than 65% com­pared to 1990 lev­els by 2035.
 
The doc­u­ment reflects the impact of the war on Ukraine’s econ­o­my, includ­ing dam­age to infra­struc­ture, lim­it­ed emis­sions mon­i­tor­ing capac­i­ty, and broad­er eco­nom­ic chal­lenges. At the same time, it out­lines key decar­bon­i­sa­tion path­ways and pro­vides a foun­da­tion for the country’s green recov­ery and its com­mit­ment to achiev­ing cli­mate neu­tral­i­ty by 2050.
 
The detailed plan­ning phase for the imple­men­ta­tion of Ukraine’s sec­ond NDC (2035-NDC) is cur­rent­ly under­way, includ­ing the align­ment and revi­sion of tar­gets, poli­cies, and mea­sures with­in the Nation­al Ener­gy and Cli­mate Plan (NECP).
 
Ger­many and the Euro­pean Union reaf­firmed their com­mit­ment to sup­port­ing Ukraine in build­ing a mod­ern, resilient, and future-ori­ent­ed econ­o­my anchored in Euro­pean val­ues and stan­dards.
 
• imple­men­ta­tion of 2035-NDC;
• revi­sion of the NECP in line with updat­ed cli­mate tar­gets;
• adop­tion of the Long-Term Low Emis­sion Devel­op­ment Strat­e­gy (LT-LEDS);
• align­ment of leg­is­la­tion with Euro­pean Union stan­dards.
 
The syn­er­gy between the NDC, NECP, and LT-LEDS forms the basis for coor­di­nat­ed gov­ern­ment action towards achiev­ing cli­mate neu­tral­i­ty by 2050.
 
Dr. Heike Henn, Direc­tor Gen­er­al “Inter­na­tion­al Cli­mate Action”, Fed­er­al Min­istry for the Envi­ron­ment, Cli­mate Action, Nature Con­ser­va­tion and Nuclear Safe­ty (BMUKN), empha­sized that Ger­many is ful­ly com­mit­ted to bol­ster­ing Ukraine’s cli­mate-relat­ed objec­tives: 
For us, the guid­ing prin­ci­ple is Ukraine’s cli­mate pol­i­cy and its response to cli­mate change. I must say, Ukraine is a tru­ly ambi­tious part­ner, and we are here to ful­ly sup­port this ambi­tion. There­fore, our coop­er­a­tion spans from devel­op­ing an emis­sions trad­ing sys­tem to imple­ment­ing ener­gy effi­cien­cy mea­sures and expand­ing renew­able ener­gy sources.
 
The work­shop also addressed ener­gy as a vital theme with­in the green trans­for­ma­tion and the Euro­pean inte­gra­tion process. Ener­gy resilience, decar­bon­i­sa­tion, and align­ment with EU cli­mate and ener­gy poli­cies were high­light­ed as essen­tial for a sus­tain­able and future-ori­ent­ed recov­ery, and the Nation­al Ener­gy and Cli­mate Plan (NECP) as a key strate­gic doc­u­ment defin­ing pri­or­i­ties for recov­ery and decar­boniza­tion.
 
The urgency of this trans­for­ma­tion is under­scored by the immense chal­lenges on the ground. In the con­text of the Russ­ian full-scale war, Ukraine’s ener­gy sec­tor remains among the most heav­i­ly affect­ed. Accord­ing to the World Bank’s assess­ment (RDNA4, Feb­ru­ary 2025), direct dam­ages have exceed­ed USD 195 bil­lion (EUR 166 bil­lion), with hous­ing, trans­port, and ener­gy infra­struc­ture among the hard­est hit sec­tors.
 
BMUKN, via IKI, specif­i­cal­ly sup­ports this through:
 
• devel­op­ment of renew­able ener­gy sources (RES);
• ener­gy effi­cien­cy improve­ments;
• car­bon pric­ing and mar­ket mech­a­nisms, includ­ing the intro­duc­tion of a nation­al Emis­sions Trad­ing Sys­tem (ETS), reform of the CO₂ tax, prepa­ra­tion for the CBAM.
 
At the same time, dis­cus­sions dur­ing the work­shop under­lined that Ukraine’s green recov­ery and progress towards EU acces­sion can­not be achieved with­out inte­grat­ing bio­di­ver­si­ty con­sid­er­a­tions into recon­struc­tion and pol­i­cy plan­ning. 
 
Accord­ing to Olek­san­dr Kras­no­lut­skyi, Deputy Min­is­ter of Econ­o­my of Ukraine, the coun­try is active­ly build­ing the legal and prac­ti­cal frame­work for a green tran­si­tion:
Ukraine is cur­rent­ly work­ing on launch­ing the mech­a­nisms under Arti­cle 6 of the Paris Agree­ment, the emis­sions trad­ing sys­tem, and the imple­men­ta­tion of its updat­ed NDC (2035-NDC). Bio­di­ver­si­ty is also among the pri­or­i­ties, in par­tic­u­lar the devel­op­ment of a strat­e­gy for its con­ser­va­tion, includ­ing the nature reserve fund. As Ukraine is cur­rent­ly at war, it is nec­es­sary to restore nature while tak­ing cur­rent chal­lenges into account.
 
Russia’s full-scale inva­sion has caused sig­nif­i­cant dam­age not only to cities and peo­ple, but also to Ukraine’s ecosys­tems, mak­ing bio­di­ver­si­ty con­ser­va­tion an increas­ing­ly urgent issue. For this rea­son, bio­di­ver­si­ty con­ser­va­tion was iden­ti­fied as one of the key focus areas of the work­shop, as an inte­gral com­po­nent of green recov­ery and Ukraine’s EU inte­gra­tion efforts.
 
Key top­ics of dis­cus­sion includ­ed the devel­op­ment of the Nation­al Bio­di­ver­si­ty Strat­e­gy and Action Plan (NBSAP), prepa­ra­tions for the 17th meet­ing of the Con­fer­ence of the Par­ties to the Con­ven­tion on Bio­log­i­cal Diver­si­ty (CBD), and the imple­men­ta­tion of the Kun­ming-Mon­tre­al Glob­al Bio­di­ver­si­ty Frame­work, which has served as the basis for Ukraine’s draft NBSAP.
 
The NBSAP was pre-approved by the Cab­i­net of Min­is­ters of Ukraine in June 2026 and offi­cial­ly pub­lished on July 15, 2026. The strat­e­gy is accom­pa­nied by an action plan, which IKI projects sup­port by imple­ment­ing spe­cif­ic actions.
 
Spe­cial atten­tion dur­ing the work­shop was giv­en to align­ing Ukraine’s bio­di­ver­si­ty pol­i­cy with Euro­pean stan­dards and EU inte­gra­tion com­mit­ments. The NBSAP is aligned with deci­sions of the Con­ven­tion on Bio­log­i­cal Diver­si­ty and EU require­ments and is expect­ed to serve as a foun­da­tion for Ukraine’s long-term envi­ron­men­tal pol­i­cy.
 
The doc­u­ment also takes into account EU inte­gra­tion require­ments under Chap­ter 27 “Envi­ron­ment and Cli­mate Change”, in par­tic­u­lar the pro­vi­sions of the EU Habi­tats and Birds Direc­tives, as well as oth­er key EU legal acts relat­ed to the con­ser­va­tion of bio­di­ver­si­ty. Rel­e­vant mea­sures are inte­grat­ed into Ukraine’s EU inte­gra­tion action plan approved by the Cab­i­net of Min­is­ters on 1 April 2026.

Background: IKI Interface Workshop

 
The annu­al IKI Inter­face work­shop is organ­ised to facil­i­tate dia­logue between Ukraine and Ger­many, as well as among IKI projects in Ukraine. This year’s event brought togeth­er 18 imple­ment­ing and part­ner organ­i­sa­tions, cre­at­ing valu­able oppor­tu­ni­ties for net­work­ing among insti­tu­tions involved in bilat­er­al, region­al, and glob­al IKI projects in Ukraine. 
Gabriel Sauer, Project Direc­tor of IKI Inter­face Ukraine
 
These two days demon­strat­ed the impor­tance of mul­ti-lev­el coop­er­a­tion — from inter­gov­ern­men­tal dia­logue between Ukraine, Ger­many and the EU to the prac­ti­cal work of IKI projects on the ground. Through this col­lab­o­ra­tion, we are not only exchang­ing expe­ri­ence, but also grad­u­al­ly shap­ing more coher­ent and effec­tive solu­tions for Ukraine. This coor­di­nat­ed effort brings us clos­er to our shared goal — a green, restored, and resilient Ukraine with­in the EU, sum­marised the out­comes of the two-day work­shop Gabriel Sauer, Project Direc­tor of IKI Inter­face Ukraine.
 
The IKI Ukraine work­shop 2026 was organ­ised by the project “IKI Inter­face: Sup­port­ing Ukraine towards Ambi­tious and Inte­grat­ed Cli­mate Pol­i­cy (Green Ukraine)”. The project is imple­ment­ed by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Inter­na­tionale Zusam­me­nar­beit (GIZ) GmbH on behalf of the Ger­man Fed­er­al Min­istry for the Envi­ron­ment, Nature Con­ser­va­tion, Nuclear Safe­ty and Con­sumer Pro­tec­tion (BMUKN) under the Inter­na­tion­al Cli­mate Ini­tia­tive (IKI), in coop­er­a­tion with the Min­istry of Econ­o­my, Envi­ron­ment and Agri­cul­ture of Ukraine.

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