The Declaration on Energy Security and Green Transition stipulates that commitment to the European Green Deal and improved regional cooperation will be further “conceptualized, supported and monitored” within the framework of the Energy Community and aligned with the European Green Deal.

Energy Community Director Arthur Lorkowski stressed that the institution will make every effort to support the contracting parties of the Western Balkans in the process of harmonizing with the European path to a carbon-free economy by 2050.

In this context, the first next step will be the adoption of energy and climate goals for 2030, packages for the integration of the electricity market, and regulations for monitoring, reporting, and verification of greenhouse gas emissions at the meeting of the Ministerial Council of the Energy Community in December 2022.

Western Balkan leaders urged the Energy Community to devise and propose a regionally coordinated approach for phasing out coal-fired electricity generation

Leaders urged the Energy Community to devise and propose a regionally coordinated approach to phasing out coal-fired electricity generation, as well as energy security mechanisms and carbon pricing schemes, with the ultimate goal of joining the European Emissions Trading Scheme and avoiding the application of the planned carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM) by the European Union.

To tackle air pollution, leaders have also pledged to bring the region into line with the EU’s Large Combustion Plants Directive, which sets new limits on emissions of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and dust.

Also, participants urged municipalities and regions of Balkan countries to actively engage in the Clean air regions initiative implemented by the Energy Community Secretariat.

Energy security and transition, green agenda and climate policy

The region’s leaders have committed to expanding the development of renewable energy sources and implementing and using the regional system established in the Energy Community for issuing and trading guarantees of origin.

They also agreed to harmonize crisis and emergency measures in the context of the energy crisis and “in the spirit of solidarity” with EU Member States and to remove all obstacles to market functioning.

Summit participants agreed that the energy crisis and the transition to renewable energy sources could only be managed through deeper regional cooperation. They agreed that Europe needs to review and rethink energy security and supply.

This is crucial not only to ensure affordable and reliable energy but also to combat climate change and reduce environmental pollution.

The Berlin Process was established in 2014 as a platform for the Western Balkan countries (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo*, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Serbia) to accelerate closer alignment with the EU and deepen regional integration and cooperation as key to economic development, growth, and peace. The participants decided to hold the next Berlin Process Summit in 2023 in Albania.

This article was originally published on 7 November 2022 by Balkan Green Energy News. Please see the source page here.

Read the Berlin Declaration here.