Southeast Europe needs to increase its ambition for climate and energy planning

Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece and Romania fail to take an ambitious and integrated approach to energy and climate policy in their draft National Energy and Climate Plans (NECPs). This is shown by a new analysis of Agora Energiewende and its Southeast European partners of the NECP drafts currently being prepared by the member states. The analysis compares the envisaged targets for renewables deployment, energy efficiency and greenhouse gas emission reductions in the different sectors. It specifically looks into trends of coal and nuclear power, reliance on natural gas and biomass and assumptions on final energy consumption in buildings and transport. The analysis provides specific recommendations to national governments as well as the European Commission for improving the respective NECPs.

New EU law obliges all Member States to develop integrated NECPs that set out the specific measures and policies planned for achieving the national and European 2030 climate and energy targets. At the moment, the EU is in the process of planning its long-term energy and climate targets. The goal is to achieve near-zero emissions by 2050 through strong increases in renewables, improved energy efficiency and the phase-out of fossil fuels.