EU NECPs: Bulgaria, Romania, Slovenia, Cyprus, others need to step up renewables ambition
The European Commission has released an assessment of the EU member states’ first-ever draft integrated national energy and climate plans (NECPs), urging them to step up ambition to implement the Paris Agreement and reach the agreed EU 2030 energy and climate targets. The European Commission’s assessment is that EU member states’ draft integrated national energy […]
BiH, Kosovo*, Serbia pay EUR 444 million in coal subsidies, EUR 147 million for renewables – report
The three most coal-intensive Energy Community (EnC) Contracting Parties – Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo*, and Serbia – paid a total of EUR 444 million in direct subsidies to coal, while their incentives for production from renewables reached EUR 147 million during the period 2015-2017. The total sum of direct subsidies in all Contracting Parties, including […]
Germany’s DBU offering environmental protection, nature conservation fellowships
The German Federal Environmental Foundation (Deutsche Bundesstiftung Umwelt, DBU) is offering fellowships for university graduates from Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), including Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo*, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, and Slovenia. The DBU awards up to 60 fellowships per year for advanced qualification in all fields of environmental protection and nature conservation. Highly […]
IRENA: SEE region yet to realise full potential of energy transition
Energy transition in South-East Europe is slowly but steadily gaining momentum as costs of investment in solar PV and onshore wind projects are declining significantly. Electricity produced from renewables is on the verge of becoming less expensive than electricity produced from fossil fuels, and the region should embrace this opportunity, it was said at the […]
GIZ ORF-EE helps create regional expert pool to support development of SUMPs
A SUMP Boot Camp was organized in Podgorica, Montenegro in late May to create a regional expert pool that will support the development of Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans (SUMP) in cities and municipalities of five Western Balkan countries. The training was organized by the GIZ Open Regional Fund for South-East Europe – Energy Efficiency (ORF-EE), […]
Countries with Europe’s best quality bathing water revealed
Just ahead of summer vacations, the European Commission has released a report on the quality of bathing water in EU member states plus Albania and Switzerland. The latest annual European bathing water quality report is based on the 2018 data, but the results give a good indication of where the best quality bathing waters are […]
World Environment Day: Air pollution causes nearly 5,000 premature deaths in 19 Western Balkan cities
Air pollution is directly responsible for up to one in five premature deaths in 19 Western Balkan cities, suggest preliminary results from a report led by the United Nations Environment Programme (UN Environment). Today is World Environment Day, the UN’ most important day for celebrating the environment, and the theme to the 2019 edition is […]
Ministers on region’s energy transition: Countries have right to choose their own energy mix
Energy, economy, and foreign ministers of Bulgaria, Hungary, Montenegro, Romania, Republika Srpska (an entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina), and Serbia believe that energy knows no borders, which requires regional cooperation, while they are adamant that every country has the right to determine its own energy mix. According to the ministers, who spoke at the Summit […]