Kyiv is the capital of Ukraine, and is the administrative, industrial, scientific, financial, economic, and cultural center of the country. The City of Kyiv is a separate administrative and territorial unit and does not belong to Kyiv Oblast. Kyiv is the largest city of Ukraine and the seventh largest by population in Europe. Total area of the city is835.6 km². As of 2013, the population of Kyiv was over 2.8 million persons. In the last decade, the population has increased on average by 20,000persons per year.
Kyiv is an example of the successful cooperation with numerous international technical assistance projects in many sectors.The city’s partner organizations includethe United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Northern Environmental Financial Corporation (NEFCO), European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), World Bank, German Association for International Cooperation (GIZ), Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM), Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and many others.
Within the structure of the Housing and Communal Infrastructure Department of the Kyiv City State Administration, there is the Department of Energy Saving, Fuel and Energy Complex and Drinking Water.
On 8 November 2011,Kyiv joined the Covenant of Mayors. This organization is the leading initiative of the European Union, the signatories to which commit to reduce their CO2 emissions by at least 20% by 2020 and thus contribute to the development of an environmentally oriented economy and improved quality of life. In the same year, Kyiv became a partner of the USAID Municipal Heating Reform Project under which theMunicipal Energy Plan of Kyiv for 2012-2016 was developed. The document was adopted by a resolution of the Kyiv City Council on1 November 2012.
In 2014, after signing of the relevant Memorandum, cooperation between the city and the USAID Municipal Energy Reform Project in Ukraine (hereinafter – the USAID Project) started. The Memorandum identified four main areas of work for improving municipal energy efficiency and raising funds to finance the relevant measures:
1) supporting the development of a Sustainable Energy Action Plan (SEAP);
2) improving the energy management system;
3) assisting in finding investments;