Collaborative Effort Toolkit: Unlocking Energy Partnerships for Ukraine’s Reconstruction and EU Integration

The integration of the Ukrainian economy into the EU and the reconstruction of the country will be most effective through partnerships between Ukrainian communities, private businesses from Ukraine and the EU, and European investors. All the prerequisites for this exist, and the successful launch of such mutually beneficial work requires regional initiatives, implementation of announced reform plans, and coordinated actions by the European Commission.

This is the main takeaway from the discussion on the “Collaborative Effort Toolkit” presented at the conference “Decentralized Energy Solutions for Ukraine’s Security” held this week in The Hague at the Clingendael Institute.

The “Collaborative Effort Toolkit” is the result of joint work by experts from the Ukraine Facility Platform (UAFP), the Dutch organization Open Door Ukraine, and the European research center TNO.

The first “Collaborative Effort Toolkit” aims to create an effective mechanism to enable private companies to develop small-scale energy generation, taking into account the needs of local communities.

The success of such projects is based on the shared interests of all partners:

• COMMUNITIES are interested in modernizing their outdated infrastructure and introducing new, environmentally friendly energy generation.
• INTERNATIONAL FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS are interested in the emergence of cost-effective projects that foster economic growth and advance the “green transition.”
• PRIVATE BUSINESSES are interested in access to new technologies and reducing the cost of financing needed for innovative energy projects.
• THE EUROPEAN UNION is interested in strengthening Europe’s energy security and implementing projects that support Ukrainian communities in line with the Ukraine Plan.
• THE GOVERNMENT OF UKRAINE is interested in increasing generation capacities and implementing the adopted energy development strategies.

For more details on the presentation of the “Collaborative Effort Toolkit”, please follow the link.

The conference brought together representatives of key stakeholders, who expressed their support for the developed approach.

“Ukraine has a huge potential for attracting investment into partnerships between businesses and local self-governance bodies. However, it is not concentrated in the capital but in the regions. Work with communities and partnerships with an efficient and competitive private sector creates a perfect environment for development projects, and thus for attracting financing to rebuild the country,” said Lana Zerkal, a member of the UAFP Coordination Committee.

Ukrainian business, whose representatives also took part in the conference, called on government and international financial institutions to create a clear operational algorithm that provides support for project development and effective financial mechanisms to unlock investment opportunities.

The developed and presented “Collaborative Effort Toolkit” covers not only the creation of such an algorithm but also support of project development in the field of new technologies. UAFP will continue to represent the interests of communities and the private sector in forming successful projects with European partners. “Collaborative Effort Toolkits” for other sectors are in the pipeline, so stay tuned.