Climate governance and war: How the CGI principles can support corporates to overcome the regional economic and energy crisis

Host:

Chapter Zero Ukraine & Caucasus with Chapter Zero Poland

Tymofiy Mylovanov, President of Kyiv School of Economics (KSE), Associate Professor of the Department of Economics at University of Pittsburgh, opened the discussion, stating that climate has to be a second priority in the war time in Ukraine, while Natalia Shapoval, Chairman of the KSE Institute, stated that the damages from Russian invasion of Ukraine amount to 130 billion US dollars. Forest fires, caused by the war, which covered up to 100 hectares, released approximately 1.7 million tons of hazardous substances into the soil and atmosphere. 

Lucyna Stąńczak Wuczyńska, Chair of BNP Paribas Bank Polska, spoke about how the decarbonization strategies of Poland will be affected by the cessation of gas supply by Russia, and about business responsibility in these circumstances. Poland has made a strategic decision to stop buying Russian coal, even having dependence on coal in residential housing. Currently, the needs of housing heating are 10 million tons of coal. But Poland has aligned with a recent recommendation and agreement between EU and its members related to the reduction of the consumption of electricity by between 10 and 15%, and reduction of gas consumption. Lucyna mentioned that for some Southern and Western European countries, energy transition will be challenging due to historical ties. Political decisions matter a lot in energy transition and security. 

According to Maria Luisa Cicognani, Chairperson of Mobius Investment Trust, Non-Executive Chairperson of Arafa Holding, management should drive the board to incorporate climate thinking in the decision-making in the banking sector. At the biggest bank of Georgia, for example, Maria Luisa highlighted that the key thing for the bank is when clients are willing to negotiate and discuss the risks they could face due to climate change and make steps, make plans together with the bank and review the target they should be achieving. If the companies do not move to environmental standards, the bank will not invest.  

Oleksii Riabchyn, Advisor to the CEO of Naftogaz of Ukraine on low-carbon businesses, spoke about the process of going green in Ukraine, its strong ambitions towards this goal before the war and the current situation. Ukraine took strong commitments on climate and decarbonization before the full-scale invasion of Russia by adopting ambitious NDC’s by 2030. Now the objectives are split into two basic groups: emergency green needs and long-term green recovery goals. Currently, Naftogaz is increasing the accuracy of our emissions disclosure and working on more sustainable policy to increase its ESG ratings. 

Hayk Shekyan, Founder and CEO of the Shtigen Group of companies, considers that business should turn to people, liberalising the energy market. In this way, giving people better access to resources and at the same time making investments better and greener. 

This session summary was provided by the hosts.