Energy and Climate Committee

Tasks

In the Energy Community context, the Energy and Climate Committee acts as the primary platform for the work towards National Energy and Climate Plans (NECPs):

• The Group works on the preparatory steps for the development of national plans and progress reports, in line with the recommendation to be discussed by the Energy Community Ministerial Council;
• The Group works with the Energy Community Secretariat and the European Commission to propose an EU-convergent, viable and streamlined process to establish 2030 targets.

Composition

Members of the Energy and Climate Committee are up to two representatives of the Contracting Parties’ ministries responsible for energy and climate policies respectively, as well as the European Commission and the Secretariat. Representatives shall be at the level of ministers, state secretaries, or deputy/assistant ministers.

Participants and Observers to the Energy Community are invited to participate in the work and meetings of the Committee. The Committee aims at including also non-governmental actors in its work and meetings and will agree on their participation on a case by case basis.

During its first meeting held in Vienna on 5 September 2017, the Committee appointed its co-Chairs,

• Connie Hedegaard (Chair of the Board, KR Foundation, Former EU Commissioner for Climate Action) and,
• Ostap Semerak, (Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources, Ukraine); 

Work Programme 2021 - 2022

The Committee's, and its Technical Working Group, key objectives for the 2021 - 2022 time frame are to: 

• Facilitate the transposition of climate legislation and support its effective implementation;
• Agree on 2030 energy and climate targets for the Energy Community;
• Support a Just Energy Transition in Contracting Parties while addressing energy poverty, coal phase-out, clean air and mainstreaming gender equality;
• Assist Contracting Parties in developing and assessing integrated NECPs;
• Institutionalize and strengthen the energy and climate modelling capacities of Contracting Parties;
• Provide impetus for building a Research, Innovation and Climate Technology hub;

For each Core Topic, the Work Programme describes the work approach, determines the timeline and the expected deliverables. Each Core Topic has a Core Topic Leader, representing one of the Contracting Parties.