Ukraine

The Kremenchug Hydroelectric Power Plant on the Dnieper river, Ukraine. Photo: Victor Zablotskyi / World Bank

Key Activities

The Integrated Environmental, Social, and Governance Program in Ukraine provides hands-on support to improve the country’s environmental, social, and governance (ESG) landscape and practices through a programmatic approach at the market, regulatory, and firm levels. 

Market Level 

The program supports and collaborates closely with three local partners: Corporate Governance Professional Association, Ukrainian Corporate Governance Academy, and Association of Sustainable Development Experts. The program contributes to their capacity building by sharing tools and knowledge to promote, train, and advise on ESG standards, focusing on the governance of environmental and social practices in selected sectors and promoting ESG standards in the financial sector. IFC promotes the adoption and implementation of good ESG practices jointly with these partners and aims to demonstrate the business case for ESG practices and sustainability to build demand for better ESG practices. All three partners are integrated into the regional cohort of the partnering institutions, which allows them to benefit from the knowledge and practical tools and in promoting the overall ESG agenda.

Regulatory Level 

The program supports market and banking regulators such as Ukraine’s National Securities and Stock Market Commission and the National Bank of Ukraine in incorporating good international practice on ESG into local legislation. Both regulators became members of the IFC-facilitated Sustainable Banking Network in 2020. In 2021, with support from the program and the network, Ukraine established its sustainable finance framework with multiple policy actions. 

IFC provided recommendations on corporate governance and ESG practices on the following regulations: 

Firm Level 

As an investor and one of the global development financial institutions, IFC has in-depth expertise in identifying and managing risks that hinder the improvement of efficiency and investment attractiveness of companies. The program provides advisory services to private sector companies and banks on improving ESG practices by assessing the practices and supporting ESG improvement plans.

Major Achievements

Under the previous IFC corporate governance advisory projects in Ukraine, IFC and other international organizations supported legislative changes in Ukraine that introduced new corporate governance requirements in line with international practice and created the demand for corporate governance services to meet these new requirements. Simultaneously, the project focused its efforts on raising public awareness of vital corporate governance issues and building the capacity of local corporate governance intermediaries to provide the required corporate governance services to meet increasing demand. As a result, Ukraine’s corporate governance maturity in demand and knowledge, regulatory framework, and market capacity has been raised significantly over the last few years.

Other Resources
Our Development Partners

The Integrated Environmental, Social, and Governance Project is implemented in partnership with the Switzerland State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO).

 

integrated esg

Our Local Partners
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