Roman Vakulchuk
Senior Research FellowRoman Vakulchuk is a senior research fellow at NUPI. He holds a PhD degree in economics obtained from Jacobs University Bremen, Germany. His main geographical specialization is Kazakhstan, other countries of Central Asia and Ukraine and he publishes on economic transition and integration, climate change, trade, infrastructure and transport, business climate and business culture, as well as state capitalism in emerging markets.
Vakulchuk has work experience as a project leader and expert within research projects organized by among others the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, the MFA and the Research Council of Norway. Roman also worked at the oil company Shell in Germany. He speaks English, Russian, Ukrainian, German and French.
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News
How Central Asia can help the global energy transition
23.03.2022Critical materials – chromium, copper, germanium, lithium and others – are essential building blocks for renewable energy technologies such as solar panels, wind turbines and batteries. A new NUPI study argues that Central Asia has been overlooked in analyses of critical materials and is a missing link... -
News
New research group on climate and energy at NUPI
28.02.2022‘The ambition of the group is to be a driver for NUPI research on climate and energy issues,’ says Indra Øverland, head of the new research group. -
Publication
: Report
Fossil Fuels in Central Asia: Trends and Energy Transition Risks
This data article provides an overview of fossil fuel trends in Central Asia from 2010 to 2019. Data on the production, consumption, export and import of coal, natural gas and oil are summarised for Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. While promoting renewable energy, Central... -
Publication
: Academic article
The Arctic Environmental Responsibility Index: A method to rank heterogenous extractive industry companies for governance purposes
The Arctic Environmental Responsibility Index (AERI) covers 120 oil, gas, and mining companies involved in resource extraction north of the Arctic Circle in Alaska, Canada, Greenland, Finland, Norway, Russia, and Sweden. It is based on an international expert perception survey among 173 members of the... -
Publication
: Academic chapter/article/Conference paper
Local and Global Aspects of Coal in the ASEAN Countries
By 2020, coal mining and power generation had been growing in Southeast Asia for decades and were projected to rise to new heights of prominence in regional energy systems, weakening the energy security of all states in the region except Indonesia, jeopardizing the NDCs of the ASEAN states under the... -
Publication
: Academic article
Central Asia is a missing link in analyses of critical materials for the global clean energy transition
The energy transition is causing a surge in demand for minerals for clean energy technologies, giving rise to concerns about the sources and security of supplies of critical materials. Although Central Asia was one of the Soviet Union's main sources of metals and industrial minerals, it has been... -
Publication
: Report
Seizing the Momentum. EU Green Energy Diplomacy towards Kazakhstan
2021The relationship between the EU and Kazakhstan has historically been dominated by trade in oil and natural gas. However, the EU’s Green Deal and commitment to reach climate-neutrality by 2050 means that the bloc is slowly but surely reducing foreign non-renewable energy imports. Moreover, energy transitions... -
Publication
: Academic article
Funding flows for climate change research on Africa: Where do they come from and where do they go?
Africa has only contributed a small fraction of global greenhouse gas emissions yet faces disproportionate risks from climate change. This imbalance is one of many inequities associated with climate change and raises questions concerning the origin, distribution and thematic prioritization of funding... -
News
Funding flows for climate change research on Africa
27.10.2021African countries face some of the biggest challenges due to climate change compared to other parts of the world, but the funding for research on these changes and their implications in Africa constitutes only a small fraction of global funding for climate change research. -
News
Chinese and Japanese investments in Myanmar – what determines their environmental friendliness?
24.06.2021What determines whether companies investing in developing countries proceed in an environmentally friendly way? A new article published at level 2 by researchers at Harvard and NUPI examines this question. -
Publication
: Academic article
Environmental performance of foreign firms: Chinese and Japanese firms in Myanmar
Little is known about how the environmental approaches of foreign investors in developing countries are formed. The objective of this study is to conceptualize and investigate the drivers of the environmental performance of foreign firms. This is done through a comparative analysis of the environmental... -
Research project
Research Capacity and Cooperation in Myanmar (RECCOM)
2018 - 2021 (Ongoing)This project aims at building increased analytical capacity among Myanmar researchers.
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Publication
: Report
The Pandemic as a Litmus Test for (Dis)Engagement of External Powers in Central Asia
2020This study provides an empirical overview of pandemic-related external assistance to the Central Asian countries of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan by partner countries and international organisations between March and September 2020. This state-of-the-art review of Central Asia official... -
Publication
: Report
Discovering Opportunities in the Pandemic? Four Economic Response Scenarios for Central Asia
2020The COVID-19 crisis represents not only an unprecedented economic disruption but also an opportunity for Central Asia. A specific economic policy response may trigger either game-changing reforms that can facilitate the development of full-fledged market institutions or lead to a protracted crisis that... -
Publication
: Academic article
Using satellite data and machine learning to study conflict-induced environmental and socioeconomic destruction in data-poor conflict areas: The ca...
This paper studies socioeconomic and environmental changes in the neighboring areas Bangladesh-Myanmar border from 2012 to 2019, thus covering the period before and after the 2017 Rakhine conflict in Myanmar and outflux of refugees across the border to Bangladesh. Given the scarcity and costliness of... -
News
Why lack of will to limit climate change amongst ASEAN states?
12.04.2021The countries of Southeast Asia are among the most vulnerable to the effects of climate change. Why, then, has there been so little will to take action? This paradox is the focus of a new article from the ACCEPT project. -
Publication
: Academic article
The ASEAN climate and energy paradox
This article carries out a multisectoral qualitative analysis (MSQA) and policy integration analysis of six sectors important for climate mitigation in Southeast Asia in order to assess the status of the climate-energy nexus in the region. It concludes that Southeast Asia will be heavily affected by... -
Publication
: Report
Vietnam: Six Ways to Keep Up the Renewable Energy Investment Success
Vietnam is one of the most attractive destinations for renewable energy investment in ASEAN. In 2018, the country attracted USD 5.2 billion. In 2019, the share of renewable energy in the energy mix was 9%, thus already exceeding the 7% target set for 2020. If Vietnam is to continue its success and compete... -
Publication
: Report
Thailand: Improving the Business Climate for Renewable Energy Investment
Thailand is among ASEAN’s renewable energy leaders. It attracted more than USD 10.7 billion of investment in renewable energy from 2006 to 2018. The country’s total installed capacity of renewable energy represented over 60% of the total capacity of ASEAN in 2019. Renewables accounted for 15% of its...