Ukraine has taken its first step towards sustainability report implementation

In October 2024, the Government of Ukraine approved the Strategy for the Implementation of Sustainability Reporting by Enterprises. The document defines the main tasks to ensure that Ukrainian enterprises generate information on sustainable development based on the common methodological principles of the EU countries. The implementation of the Strategy is an important condition for Ukraine as a candidate for EU membership. 

To discuss the preconditions, stages and expected results of the sustainability reporting implementation by companies, the Ministry of Finance, with the support of the EU-FAAR Project, held a conference Sustainability Reporting: Challenges and Opportunities. 

At the opening of the conference, Deputy Minister of Finance of Ukraine Svitlana Vorobey said: “During the 70th session of the UN General Assembly in New York, at the UN Summit on Sustainable Development, 17 Sustainable Development Goals were adopted, which the majority of countries on the planet decided to use to join their efforts to overcome global problems of humanity - poverty, hunger, inequality, low living standards, environmental pollution, etc. The Government of Ukraine's approval of the Strategy for the Implementation of Sustainable Development Reporting by Enterprises is a confirmation of Ukraine's movement towards the circle of progressive, democratic countries united by common values of peace, prosperity and sustainable development.”

Representatives of European regulators, international organisations and associations shared their experience in implementing sustainability reporting. 

Ukraine was represented at the conference by Deputy Minister of Finance of Ukraine Svitlana Vorobey, Director of the Department of Accounting Methodology and Regulatory Support of Audit Activities Lyudmyla Gaponenko, and Executive Director of the Public Oversight Body for Audit Activities of Ukraine Oleh Kantsurov.

The participants shared their experience in implementing sustainability reporting in their countries, including: Head of the European Commission's Directorate-General for Corporate reporting, audit and credit rating agencies Sven Gentner, CEO of the European Financial Reporting Advisory Group Saskia Slomp, Chairman of the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board Tom Seidenstein, Executive Director of Regulatory Standards at the Financial Reporting Council and Member of the International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants (IESBA) Mark Babington, and Director General of the Cyprus Public Audit Oversight Board (CyPAOB) Panos Prodromides, CEO of the  XBRL International Standards Board John Turner, Director of Reporting at PwC, Member of the Public Sector Accounting Standards Board (PSAAS) Bernard Schatz, Accounting and Reporting Expert at the UK Department of Business and Trade  Debbie Crawshaw, Associate Professor of Management Accounting at the Nord University Business School Veronika Vakulenko and EU-FAAR Project in Ukaine Team Leader Jon Hooper. 

As a result of the conference, Ukraine received useful information about the experience of other countries in implementing sustainability reporting and informed its European partners about its steps in this direction. 

The reports on the conference will be published on the official website of the Ministry of Finance in the section ‘Activities / Accounting and Auditing / Sustainability Reporting’.