4th international symposium Rebuilding a Place to Call Home: Recovery Towards Net Zero

The 4th international symposium “Rebuilding a Place to Call Home” focused on achieving a GHG-neutral and circular urban and rural environment in Ukraine’s recovery process. It took place in Lviv, Ukraine, on 16-17 of October, 2025, and featured four tracks, led by line experts:

Day 1:

Track 1. Policies, Regulation, and Reforms for Climate Neutrality
Track 2. (Re)construction Industry, Technologies, and Processes

Day 2:

Track 3. Land Use and Spatial Planning
Track 4. Investment for Net Zero

The main message of the symposium is that Net Zero is a distant goal and a present challenge at the same time. For many stakeholders, it is incredibly hard to see the value of emission reduction and nature restoration targets as priorities in their work in the situation of destruction, war, and loss of life. However, Ukraine’s accession to the EU will require a radical mindset change. Many of the topics will become mandatory criteria: from life-cycle assessment to carbon credits and emission allowances to the EU green taxonomy. Such shifts will be inevitable regardless of the readiness of users, producers, and public administration on the ground. Beyond the intergenerational duty to leave a safe and clean environment to our descendants, it is a direct responsibility of industry practitioners, public officials and politicians to prepare for the upcoming regulatory environment and beat the clock while doing so.

It was jointly organised by the Centre for Land and Housing Research at the Kharkiv School of Architecture and the School of Public Management at the Ukrainian Catholic University, with the partners: the Center for Environmental Initiatives “Ecoaction”; the Sustainable Urban Development Programme, the Department for Continuing Education at Oxford University; UN-Habitat’s Ukraine Urban Lab, and CEE Bankwatch. Oleksandr Anisimov served as syposium convener.

The symposium report is structured according to the symposium agenda. Each track features an introduction, key highlights from the session and conclusions.

Download the report in English and Ukrainian.

Recordings are available via links: in English and in Ukrainian.