Green Deal Ukraina: Energy and Climate Agenda for Ukraine’s way towards EU
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The first high-level event of the Green Deal Ukraina (GDU) project took place in October in Kyiv, Ukraine, attended by more than 150 participants. This first gathering and formal launch took place at an important moment: EU will share a new report on the countries progress towards EU and Ukraine will respond by sharing its own analysis, called pre-screening.
Green Deal Ukraina (GDU) is a common project by Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin (HZB), Forum Energii, Warsaw, DixiGroup and EcoAction. The GDU project is funded by The German Ministry for Education and Research and strives to establish an independent energy and climate think tank in Kyiv by 2027.
The trilateral project is based in Berlin, Kyiv and Warsaw and brings together experts from a variety of fields, such as economics, engineering, and social sciences, to carry out interdisciplinary research and analysis. The geographic scope of expertise entails strong local knowledge of Ukraine, a specific understanding of Germany’s energy transition and Poland’s economic transition, and the European Union’s institutions. Accordingly, GDU will also contribute to strengthening further triangular cooperation between Ukraine, Germany and Poland in the field of energy and climate policy.
Green Deal Ukraina launch event on 09 October
At the event, Green Deal Ukraina shared first research results through an energy and climate roadmap for Ukraine towards the EU, and with scenarios on future Ukraine energy demand at 2030 and 2040 horizons. Those products had been jointly developed by the partners. They have been consulted with the conference participants and will be finalised thereafter.
A first high-level session was opened by German Minister for Education and Research Bettina Stark-Watzinger, through a pre-registered statement. Polish Ambassador to Ukraine, Bartosz Cichocki, Ingrid Sovsun, Parliament member of Ukraine, and Oleksandr Butenko, deputy minister for territories and infrastructure highlighted the need for sustainable recovery and the importance of research, as well as decentralised solutions. GDU partner DixiGroup presented a study on access to public information in the energy sector and highlighted the need for democratic involvement of all stakeholders through a transparent process and public data.
Other speakers include deputy ministers for energy, for economy, high-level representatives of the Ministry for Energy, the Energy- and Climate Head of the EU delegation in Kyiv, the Energy Community, Ukrenergo, and members of the Parliament as well as the experts and representatives of the partners.
Green Deal Ukraina Advisory Board
The project, funded by the German Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF), has also established a high-level Advisory Council that will gather for the first time on October 16th, 2023, in Berlin. The Advisory Council will guide the project towards the successful establishment of the think tank and includes the following personalities: Ottmar Edenhofer (PIK); Anka Feldhusen (German Ministry for Foreign Affairs); Artur Lorkowski (Director Energy Community); Bernd Rech (Scientific Director of HZB); Christian Zinglersen (Director of ACER); Christiane Dahrendorf (Susanne Henle Stiftung); Janusz Reiter (Former Ambassador Republic of Poland); Michal Kurtyka (Former Ambassador Republic of Poland); Jean-Michel Glachant (President IAEE); Laurence Tubiana (President and CEO of European Climate Foundation); Monika Morawiecka (Senior Advisor Regulatory Assistance Project); Robert Schlögl (President Alexander von Humboldt Stiftung); Volodymyr Kudritsky (CEO Ukrenergo); Yuri Kubrushko (Founding Partner Imepower).
Information about Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin (HZB)
HZB is a research center with a strong reputation for its expertise in energy research and materials science. HZB operates the synchrotron BESSY II, which facilitates cutting-edge studies on materials and is home to synthesis and analytical laboratories. HZB has extensive expertise in the analysis, development, and optimization of renewable energy generation, storage, and conversion technologies placing it at the forefront of the field. In fact, HZB is recognized as one of the world’s leading institutions in the development of thin-film photovoltaic technologies and has developed several new tandem solar cells with world record efficiencies. Beyond its pure technical expertise, HZB is known for its collaborative approach to research, working closely with other research institutions, universities, and industry partners across the world.
- What Zinc concentration in teeth revealsTeeth are composites of mineral and protein, with a bulk of bony dentin that is highly porous. This structure is allows teeth to be both strong and sensitive. Besides calcium and phosphate, teeth contain trace elements such as zinc. Using complementary microscopy imaging techniques, a team from Charité Berlin, TU Berlin and HZB has quantified the distribution of natural zinc along and across teeth in 3 dimensions. The team found that, as porosity in dentine increases towards the pulp, zinc concentration increases 5~10 fold. These results help to understand the influence of widely-used zinc-containing biomaterials (e.g. filling) and could inspire improvements in dental medicine.
- Element cobalt exhibits surprising propertiesThe element cobalt is considered a typical ferromagnet with no further secrets. However, an international team led by HZB researcher Dr. Jaime Sánchez-Barriga has now uncovered complex topological features in its electronic structure. Spin-resolved measurements of the band structure (spin-ARPES) at BESSY II revealed entangled energy bands that cross each other along extended paths in specific crystallographic directions, even at room temperature. As a result, cobalt can be considered as a highly tunable and unexpectedly rich topological platform, opening new perspectives for exploiting magnetic topological states in future information technologies.
- MXene for energy storage: More versatile than expectedMXene materials are promising candidates for a new energy storage technology. However, the processes by which the charge storage takes place were not yet fully understood. A team at HZB has examined, for the first time, individual MXene flakes to explore these processes in detail. Using the in situ Scanning transmission X-ray microscope 'MYSTIIC' at BESSY II, the scientists mapped the chemical states of Titanium atoms on the MXene flake surfaces. The results revealed two distinct redox reactions, depending on the electrolyte. This lays the groundwork for understanding charge transfer processes at the nanoscale and provides a basis for future research aimed at optimising pseudocapacitive energy storage devices.