An interview with Andriy Kyrchiv, Programme and Project Coordinator at the Energy Efficient Cities of Ukraine Association, opens up a concrete path from inherited inefficiency to practical steps in the field of energy efficiency and the use of renewable sources in Ukraine. The war has dramatically changed the priorities of municipalities, yet it is energy efficiency and modern energy-consumption management that determine their resilience and sustainability. You will also learn what kind of foreign aid is most effective.
Where do you see the biggest potential for energy savings in Ukrainian municipalities?
Ukrainian municipalities inherited an extremely inefficient residential housing stock from the Soviet era, when energy costs were state-regulated and maintained at artificially low levels for political reasons. Unfortunately, they have managed to refurbish only a small portion of this housing—insufficient for achieving a significant reduction in energy consumption.
Moreover, a number of other factors have hindered attempts to improve the overall situation, including an outdated and inefficient district (central) heating system, the lack of precise energy metering and effective municipal energy management, entrenched behavioural patterns, and the continued use of outdated construction materials and methods instead of adopting new standards for energy-neutral or energy-plus buildings, and so on.
Certainly, there are Ukrainian communities that have already focused on green development goals, joined major European initiatives and toolkits (such as the Covenant of Mayors and the European Energy Award), developed sustainable-development plans and green transition policies, and are implementing them step by step. While we don‘t have many such communities compared to the total number of approximately 1,400 (for example, there are 346 Covenant of Mayors Ukrainian signatories as of July 2025, some of which are either temporarily occupied or devastated by the aggressor, while others are on hold or suspended for not fulfilling commitments; only 12 Ukrainian communities implement the European Energy Award system today), these municipalities serve as leaders showing the right direction for others.
The main pillars of energy-saving potential in Ukrainian communities today and for the coming decades are: introducing contemporary municipal energy-management systems interconnected with automatic metering, data transfer, aggregation, and analysis software; comprehensive refurbishment of the old residential stock and construction of new residential buildings in accordance with EU standards (and beyond); widespread use of renewable energy sources and their combinations for energy and heat supply (such as PV panels with heat pumps) in the public and residential sectors; and the creation of energy communities and „energy islands“ with independent energy production and storage capacities that will prevent energy shortages caused by warfare.
What are the key challenges and barriers to implementing energy efficiency measures for Ukrainian municipalities?
It is absolutely obvious that the Russian war against Ukraine is the main and most significant obstacle to the full-scale introduction of energy-efficient and energy-saving measures in Ukrainian communities. Any renovation or reconstruction of energy and heat production facilities is almost immediately followed by missile or bomb strikes, especially in areas close to active warfare zones.
For example, Ukraine has lost numerous PV installations and other renewable-energy equipment that have been either destroyed or stolen by the enemy. Another major problem is the lack of financing to install innovative energy-efficient equipment and/or local energy-generating facilities that could reduce overall community energy consumption, due to high investment risks during wartime and national priorities for financial spending under martial law that are obligatory for local authorities.
An additional challenge relates to the significant loss of qualified, trained local personnel who were involved in developing and implementing local and regional energy and climate policies but have now either been mobilised into the Ukrainian Armed Forces or have relocated or left the country.
Some obstacles connected to energy-related national legislation remain unresolved: despite the adoption of important national legal norms that align with EU requirements, many implementing regulations have not yet been developed, which blocks the practical implementation of these laws. Finally, the old „business as usual“ paradigm still prevails in some local communities and needs to change as soon as possible.
What should be done — in Ukraine and from abroad — to help Ukrainian municipalities implement more energy efficiency measures?
Ending the warfare or at least achieving a long-lasting ceasefire will provide good opportunities for positive changes in energy efficiency and climate solutions at all levels — local, regional, and national.
It should be emphasised that even under wartime conditions, we have examples of good practices, particularly in using renewable energy sources and their combinations to avoid blackouts in critical communal infrastructure (water and energy supply facilities, food production, hospitals, etc.).
However, a deep and thorough audit of the current situation in every community is needed before any reconstruction or installation of new facilities (including assessment of damage, feasibility of improving or reconstructing existing facilities, and available resources for either renovation or new installations). In accordance with Ukrainian legislation, the adoption of energy-management systems in every community and the development of Municipal Energy Plans are obligatory. At the national level, it is important to develop an appropriate and comprehensive legal framework, as well as to stimulate and motivate local self-governments to approach these tasks practically rather than formally, developing realistic policies and plans with a clear vision of the steps to be undertaken and resources to be allocated for their implementation.
At the local and regional levels, the availability of trained and skilled personnel able to develop and implement these realistic energy and climate plans is crucial. Combined with thorough analysis of available and needed resources, plus external consultancy and financing, local authorities can proceed with precise and realistic planning of energy and climate-related measures and their subsequent implementation.
Potential help from foreign partners should focus on highly tailored consultancy that avoids repetitive general topics (particularly training local personnel on how to successfully apply for and work with European loans and credit programmes), opening more opportunities to work with grant, loan, and credit programmes for medium and small communities, sharing innovative good practices in energy efficiency and climate policies with Ukrainian communities—particularly via wide ranging energy twinning and study-visit programmes, as well as through projects and programmes with practical implementation of successful models (such as the EU LIFE Programme and the former “Covenant of Mayors — Demonstration Projects” Programme). A recent survey among members of the “Energy Efficient Cities of Ukraine (EECU)”, which represents over 100 Ukrainian municipalities dedicated to improving energy efficiency, has revealed the priority placed on „hard-component“ projects. These are initiatives where communities receive both skills and knowledge plus practical implementation of real energy-efficiency measures financed completely or co-financed by foreign donors. The European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation (EGTC) mechanism could provide access to EU structural funds for Ukrainian communities and foster cooperation with EU partner municipalities in enhancing energy efficiency. It is important to refocus the EU Ukraine Facility instrument on allocating the vast majority of existing resources to real and valuable measures, not just to EU consultant pools.
But it is crucial first to have a peace process in place, followed by comprehensive and smart energy-efficient reconstruction.
Thank you very much!
Juraj Krivošík, juraj.krivosik@svn.cz
