Serbia finishing its draft energy, climate policy for public review

Serbian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Mining and Energy Zorana Mihajlović has announced the public discussion for the draft national energy and climate plan (NECP) and the energy development strategy would start soon.

Zorana Mihajlović has invited all interested civil society organizations and individuals to take part in the process of adopting the National Energy and Climate Plan (NECP) from 2021 to 2030 with the vision until 2050, and the Energy Sector Development Strategy for the period until 2040 with projections until 2050.

Mihajlović said the energy transition concerns all the citizens of Serbia as both energy and the environment are important for everyone.

Last year and 2022 are key to the energy transition process

The decisions from 2021 and those coming this year are crucial for the energy transition in Serbia and for the future of the country’s energy sector, she said.

A new legislative framework was adopted last year, and the drafting of the two most important strategic documents for the energy sector began.

The two documents will determine the path of Serbian energy in the coming decades

The involvement of NGOs and citizens is important in drafting the NECP and the energy strategy because the two documents will determine the path for energy in Serbia in the coming decades, Mihajlović stressed.

The ministry, as the institution in charge of the documents, is willing to listen to all opinions, she added.

However, no one has the right to impose their view as the only correct one or to try and stop the changes or obstruct the adoption of strategic documents important for the development of Serbia, said Mihajlović.

North Macedonia and Albania are only contracting parties of the Energy Community that submitted NECP drafts

The national energy and climate plan should include targets for increasing energy efficiency and the share of renewable energy sources in final consumption by 2030, as well as for a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. Policies and measures to achieve the goals are also an integral part of the document.

The European Union has introduced the plans as an obligation for its members under the Clean Energy for All Europeans package. It was adopted to help the 27-member bloc achieve its energy and climate goals for the current decade. The contracting parties of the Energy Community have no obligation to adopt NECPs, as it is only a recommendation, but they are all drafting them.

Serbia’s NECP is being prepared within the IPA project “Further Development of Energy Planning Capacity”

So far, only North Macedonia and Albania have submitted the draft NECPs to the Energy Community Secretariat. The former did it in the fall of 2020, and the latter in December 2021.

In Serbia, the NECP is being developed within the IPA project “Further Development of Energy Planning Capacity”. It is funded by the European Union and implemented by LDK Consultants SA in consortium with the Center of Renewable Energy Sources and Saving (CRES).