Inadequate project disclosure is blocking access to green finance
Ukrainian projects have the potential to meet green finance criteria, yet this potential remains largely invisible to investors for a simple reason: basic disclosure is missing. This was the assessment of Dmytro Sych, General Manager for Green Finance at DiXi Group and expert at the Green Transition Office.
The Green Transition Office has twice analysed publicly available investment projects — drawn from the Unified Public Investment Portfolio and the Kyiv School of Economics investment portal — for alignment with the EU Taxonomy. "Even a basic analysis of whether a project's activities fall within sectors covered by the delegated acts is enough to make the case for its green finance potential," Sych noted at the event.
Among public sector projects, roughly two thirds proved potentially eligible under the Taxonomy, predominantly in energy and transport. For private sector projects the figure sits at around 40%, with energy again leading.
Projects are not going unfunded because of Taxonomy compliance or non-compliance. There are many other reasons, among them the way projects are presented to prospective investors. "When a project approaches an international financial institution for financing, questions arise: what are the greenhouse gas emissions, what is the impact on biodiversity, has an environmental impact assessment been carried out. These questions come up regardless of whether the initiator was prepared for them. If answers have been worked out in advance, even in broad terms, the conversation with the investor becomes shorter and simpler. If not, negotiations drag on — or never get started," Sych said.
The problem does not lie solely with project initiators. Platforms that host investment projects frequently do not request environmental impact data, or simply do not treat it as relevant for publication. A project can exist, carry real potential, and still have its green dimension go completely unnoticed — by donors and prospective investors alike.
The next step, in Sych's view, is a tracking system: which projects secured funding, which remained at the preparation stage, which dropped off entirely. Without it, there is no credible way to report on the fulfilment of the green quota under Ukraine Facility, nor to assess the country's actual investment potential in the green transition. Until such a system exists, the gap between what is available and what gets funded will remain a structural problem — not a coincidence.
This event was made possible with the financial support of the International Renaissance Foundation under the project "Research and Advocacy for Green Recovery Opportunities in Ukraine."
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