Ukraine should link a gradual increase in its carbon price to automatic matching contributions from the European Union, creating a joint decarbonisation fund that could mobilise up to €6.6 billion a year by 2030 for green investment, according to a paper published by Green Deal Ukraïna (GDU), a trilateral collaboration between Germany, Ukraine and Poland.
The proposal aims to solve a central challenge facing Ukraine's EU accession. While the country will eventually need to align its carbon pricing with the European Union's Emissions Trading System (ETS), raising carbon prices too quickly could undermine industrial competitiveness and political support during wartime.
The authors argue that pairing higher domestic carbon revenues with predictable EU financing would help ease that transition while accelerating industrial decarbonisation.
