BiH one step closer to developing Integrated National Energy and Climate Plan

The GIZ Open Regional Fund for South-East Europe – Energy Efficiency (ORF-EE) organized a two-day Workshop on Development of Integrated National Energy and Climate Plans (NECP) in Sarajevo. The event took place from 5 to 6 February, 2019 in Hotel Europe.

The workshop brought together more than 80 participants, among them members of the Working Group (WG) for the development of the NECP in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) for the period 2021-2030.

The high participants turnout from a variety of institutions and public companies suggests the importance of the topic for BiH.

WG members included representatives of sector relevant ministries on BiH state and entity levels, representatives of Brčko District, public utility companies, environmental funds, trade and economy chambers on all administrative levels, academia and other institutions relevant for the sector of energy and climate. Participants of the workshop also included representatives of the Energy Community, UNDP BiH, USAID and SIDA.

Coordinator of the event was the Ministry for Foreign Trade and Economic Relations of BiH (MoFTER).

BiH as an Energy Community (EnC) contracting party is responsible for developing the NECP in line with EnC’s Council of Ministers 2018/1 / MC-EnC Recommendation.

Irina Lazzerini, EnC Sustainable Energy Expert, used the opportunity at the event to explain the aim and structure of the plans, also giving an overview of the timeframe and deadline for their development. She stressed the importance of regional cooperation in developing effective NECPs, especially referring to making use of synergies and common challenges, South-East European (SEE) countries have in common.

She stated “it is pivotal to use this work-shop to set-up working groups to tackle the 5 dimensions (energy security; fully integrated internal energy market; energy efficiency; decarbonization; research, innovation and competitiveness) covered by the NECP, including define the steering and coordination structure for NECP development.”

Admir Softić, Assistant Minister for Energy at MoFTER thanked the GIZ ORF-EE for helping bring the NECP development process forward. He highlighted energy security as an important component to be covered by the National Energy and Climate Plan.

The event featured presentations and discussions on NECP, with reference to best practices from Slovenia and Croatia, including the current policy, institutional and stakeholder landscape in BiH.

The second workshop day was dedicated to thematic WGs. Conclusions refer to agreed next steps on the NECP process design and timeframe for each of the WGs, addressing the 5 dimensions of the Energy Union, each.

“Once in implementation, NECP will enable BiH to integrate energy and climate goals, as well as policies and measures, helping harmonize energy policies with EU. It will reduce the administrative burden, ensure greater coherence and long-term predictability of investments,” Joachim Gaube, GIZ ORF-EE Sector Fund Manager explained.

He added “this is a milestone for BiH and the region, as NECPs are a rather new tool, aiming to integrate several sector oriented plans for more efficient and effective policy making.”

The ORF-EE is supporting NECP development in the entire SEE region, in cooperation with the Energy Community and the GIZ project Capacity Development for Climate Policy in the Countries of SEE, Eastern Europe, South Caucasus and Central Asia – Phase III.

ORF-EE is implemented by the German development organization GIZ on behalf of the German Government.