Green Agenda for Ukraine

With assistance of Deloitte Ukraine, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), and the Kyiv School of Economics, the event "Green Agenda for Ukraine: special role and unique challenges for banks" was conducted under the Chapter Zero Ukraine & Caucasus initiative.

Yegor Grygorenko, Partner, Head of Consulting and Risk Advisory at Deloitte Ukraine, presented the results of a survey of banks’ representatives on the current level of ESG maturity in Ukrainian banks. Thus, banks assess their ESG maturity level at an average of 3 points. They are mostly focused on advancing social and governance-related initiatives, with comparatively less effort directed towards environmental issues.

The speakers of the first panel discussion were Kateryna Rozhkova, First Deputy Governor of the National Bank of Ukraine, and Gennadiy Bortnikov, Chief Risk Officer at the Entrepreneurship Development Fund, who discussed the expected changes within the "green" regulatory landscape. Kateryna Rozhkova presented the initiatives to be implemented by the NBU in the field of sustainable development, in particular, regarding the requirements for disclosure of non-financial information and stress testing of banks' loan portfolios. At the same time, Gennadiy Bortnikov emphasized the efforts of the Entrepreneurship Development Fund to support the implementation of environmental and social standards in banks.

The speakers of the next panel, moderated by Oleksiy Riabchyn, Senior Research Fellow at the Kyiv School of Economics, were representatives of the banking sector and business, who shared their experience in driving forward "green" agenda. Arthur Poghosyan, Deputy Head of Ukraine, Financial Institutions at EBRD, presented the Bank's approach to “greening” of the investments and Paris alignment of the clients' operations, including through development of Transition Plans.

Hanna Siroshtan, Deputy Head of the Center for Strategic Change Management at Oschadbank, noted that the bank has environmental and governance-related initiatives and intends to develop a roadmap for the integration of ESG principles into its operations. However, she emphasized that one of the challenges in the implementation is the necessity to enhance the regulatory landscape. The importance of regulatory changes was also noted by Marta Trofimova, Head of Sustainability at KERNEL.

Representatives of KERNEL and Centravis Holding also expressed their expectations regarding the facilitative role of banks in “green” agenda. Alexandre Joseph, Chief Financial Officer at Centravis Holding, noted that banks should actively encourage clients to identify ESG risks and develop solutions to reduce their impact to maintain business resilience.

Eran Klein, Supervisory Board Member at TBC Bank, shared the experience of a foreign bank, highlighting that strong executive team and its support, as well as the establishment of a clear ESG framework are key factors in successful ESG implementation within an organization.

Maksym Oliinyk, ESG Project Manager at OTP Bank, highlighted the positive impact of the parent company on advancing ESG initiatives within the bank. However, he noted that progress has been comparatively slower than in the European Union, given the insufficiency of the regulatory framework.

The participants of the event agreed on the importance of changes in the banking sector's approaches to ESG and emphasized the leading role of the National Bank of Ukraine as both a regulator and a facilitator of changes in this area.