‘Green’ bonds for payment to RES will be issued under state guarantees – Energy Minister

Ukrenergo may become the issuer of "green" bonds for settlements with producers of "green" electricity (RES), and the bonds themselves will be issued under state guarantees, acting Minister of Energy of Ukraine Yuriy Vitrenko has said.

"So far, the working version (of the issuer) is Ukrenergo. The state guarantee is provided," he told Interfax-Ukraine.

Speaking about the possible terms of the issue, Vitrenko noted that it is necessary to test the market.

According to him, it is planned that specialized investors in "green" bonds will allow the placement of such Ukrainian securities at a rate below the sovereign.

"It is necessary to test, it is necessary to do it. Because there are no such examples," he said.

Speaking about a longer-term solution to the problem of paying for state-guaranteed "green" tariffs at a higher than market level, Vitrenko named a tax on carbon emissions as one of the options. According to him, now this tax is 60 times lower than the European one, and its increase to the level of half of the European one will allow to meet the needs of renewable energy sources.

Earlier, at a meeting with the European Business Association (EBA), the minister estimated the possible volume of green bonds at UAH 24 billion.

Source: www.en.interfax.com.ua