On April 1, 2025, a meeting of the EU FOR YOU Euroclub was held within the framework of the EU Global Responsible Leadership for Climate Change, Environment and Humanitarian Aid (EU_LEAD) project with the support of the Erasmus+ Jean Monnet Program. The guest speaker was Diana Popfalushi, Project Manager at the NGO Plato, Head of the Board of the Ukrainian Climate Network, co-author of the podcast “ExplainforEco” with the topic of the discussion: “European Green Deal: Challenges and Benefits for Ukraine”.
During the event, Diana Popfalushi shared her theoretical knowledge and practical experience, focused on the specifics of the European Green Deal implementation, its components and priority goals. The speaker analyzed the EGD's impact on the transformation processes in Ukraine, in particular in the energy, industrial and agricultural sectors. She also analyzed the results of monitoring Ukraine's fulfillment of its commitments under the Association Agreement with the EU in environmental and climate policies, emphasizing their positive assessment by European partners. Diana also familiarized the students with the content, goals, and demonstration cases of key projects in Ukraine that contribute to the implementation of EGD goals, such as: 1) National Energy and Climate Plan; 2) Green Deal Ukraine; 3) Local Green Courses; 4) Green Agenda.
An interesting aspect of the presentation-discussion was the identification of 10 key facts about the EGD impact on Ukraine: 1. Ukraine aims to achieve climate neutrality by 2060; 2. Energy transition to RES; 3. Implementation of CBAM in Ukraine from 2026; 4. Investments from the EU for “green” reconstruction; 5. Transport sector reform; 6. Energy efficient construction; 7. Circular economy; 8. Agricultural sector reform; 9. Environmental education and public initiatives in the environmental sphere; 10. Better export conditions for access to the European market for companies that implement green standards.
In conclusion, Diana Popfalushi highlighted Ukraine's key commitments to its European partners on climate policy, namely: harmonization of legislation, environmental monitoring, consideration of EGD goals in the energy strategy, implementation of greenhouse gas emissions monitoring according to MRV, regular reporting of emissions by enterprises, and implementation of a national emissions inventory system.
It is worth noting that the topic of the Euroclub meeting aroused considerable interest among students and teachers of Lviv Polytechnic National University. The students and all the attendees discussed various topics with the keynote speaker, including practical recommendations for implementing green initiatives at the household level, changes in the EPA policy in the context of the US withdrawal from the Paris Climate Agreement, peculiarities of CBAM implementation in Ukraine, etc. In total, 61 participants joined the event. The EU_LEAD project team is sincerely grateful to Diana Popfalushi for her presentation and discussion and for her time.
For more information about the EU_LEAD project, please follow the link.
