The EBRD yesterday announced its support of a new, ecologically-friendly municipal trolleybus program in Kharkiv (Kharkov) and Lviv (Lvov), two major cites in Eastern and Western Ukraine, respectively.
The bank has offered €27.5 million in total to support the acquisition of dozens of new trolleybuses and necessary maintenance equipment in the two cities. This amount include senior loans of up to 13 year and parallel loans from the Clean Technology Fund. The project is supported by the Municipal Project Support Facility, which is funded by the European Union.
Kharkiv’s 260-kilometre long trolleybus network is used by more than 140 million passengers every year, the EBRD reports.
“The introduction of the new trolleybuses is expected to reduce electricity consumption by around 20 per cent and CO2 emissions by 2,250 tonnes annually” in this city, according to the bank.
The EBRD is the largest international financial investor in Ukraine with almost €13.1 billion committed across some 418 projects since the bank began operating in the country in 1993.
In October last year the EBRD announced its new strategy for Ukraine. Among the bank’s priorities is “strengthening energy security through effective regulation, market liberalisation, diversified and increased production and energy efficiency.”
Another eco-friendly initiative backed by the EBRD and the EU in Ukraine is the Climate Innovation Vouchers (CIVs) program, from which several Ukrainian green tech startups have already received financial support.
