On 9 January 2018 the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources (MENR) of Ukraine published details regarding the draft national legislative package (Ukrainian) on the Monitoring Reporting and Verification (MRV) of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, most importantly the draft MRV law (Ukrainian) and the list of activity types subject to MRV (Ukrainian). These provisions lay the groundwork for Ukraine’s planned emissions trading system, which is being developed in line with its obligations under the Ukraine-European Union Association Agreement that was signed and ratified on 16 September 2014.
The draft law “On the Basic Elements of Monitoring, Reporting and Verification of Greenhouse Gas Emissions” (Ukrainian) outlines MRV principles; names the bodies that will be in charge of MRV; describes the obligations of installation operators and verifiers; and the MRV process. Institutional bodies that will govern MRV include the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine (responsible for high-level policy approval), the MENR (MRV policy development and control of implementation), and an authorized body (implementation of MRV regulations, methodology development, etc.), which is not specified in the document.
A list of activity types that are required to undertake monitoring activities was also published as part of the package. These include: fuel combustion in installations with a total nominal thermal power above 20 Mega Watts (MW); oil refining; coke production; burning or agglomeration of metal ore; iron and steel production; production or processing of ferrous metals (if the total rated thermal power combustion units exceed 20 MW); production of cement clinkers; production of lime or calcination of dolomite or magnesite; ammonia and nitric acid production. Further details on emissions thresholds are expected in due course.
Monitoring will be carried out by the operator in accordance with the monitoring plan approved by a (as yet to be specified) authorized body. In certain cases simplified monitoring plans will be accepted. Verification will be carried out by appropriately accredited verifiers (the accreditation procedure shall be established by the national accreditation body) based on an agreement between the verifier and the operator. The verification report will be issued, which will then be subject to a review by an independent reviewer (not specified in more detail in the document). Verification reports shall be submitted to the authorized body within the timeframe established by law. Emissions data will be made open for public access.
Currently, the draft law is undergoing legal analysis and is being discussed with relevant stakeholders. The legislative package will be finalized once these processes are concluded.