Draft law produced on cut in greenhouse gas emissions

Minister of agriculture and environmental protection Snežana Bogosavljević Bošković said obligatory monitoring and reporting on industrial emissions of greenhouse gases is included in the new bill on the reduction of emissions. The draft law was created within a project from 2012 funded by the European Union through Instruments for Pre-Accession. The bill, planned for adoption in Serbia’s parliament this year, is the first in the area of climate change, she said at the session of the National Council on Climate Change.

Opening the meeting, the minister said the aim of the gathering is to analyze activities and results from 2015 and to discuss plans for this year. Work in the area of climate change should be improved and made more transparent and efficient; it should be created so that it meets the needs, from the aspect of the demands from the international community, for the process of harmonization of the national legislation with that of the European Union, but also for a sustainable and competitive development of Serbia’s economy, Bogosavljević Bošković underscored. She stressed that the authorities produced the first updated biannual report and the second national communication of the country’s obligations towards the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The minister said the documents give an assessment of the situation in greenhouse gas emissions, the expected trends from 2020 to 2030, and the options to reduce the emissions.

Snežana Bogosavljević Bošković reminded Serbia published its Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) for reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and delivered them to UNFCCC as the first state in the region and one of the first ten in the world.