Secretariat issues recommendations on Albanian draft National Energy and Climate Plan

Albania is the second Contracting Party to finalize and submit its draft National Energy and Climate Plan (NECP) to the Secretariat for review. Based on the Ministerial Council Recommendation 2018/01/MC-EnC, the Secretariat issued its recommendations on the draft NECP of Albania. The Secretariat concluded that the draft constitutes a comprehensive overview of current and planned measures. However, there is room for additional policies in order to ensure that Albania embarks on structural reforms that help decouple its economic growth from greenhouse gas emissions.

Director Artur Lorkowski said: “I commend Albania for being among the frontrunners and submitting its draft NECP for review. Albania currently has a zero-emission domestic electricity generation sector, which provides a head start for clean development. The NECP is a key instrument to provide long-term regulatory certainty, create the right conditions to attract investment and promote the uptake of new technologies.”

Background

The Energy Community Contracting Parties are currently in the process of adopting NECPs, and thus setting out policies and measures in the five dimensions of the Energy Union (energy efficiency, renewables, greenhouse gas emissions reduction, internal energy market and research and innovation). The aim of the plans is to draw up an integrated policy framework to steer decarbonisation efforts until 2030 and beyond, aligning with the ambitions of the European Green Deal. In November 30 2021, the Ministerial Council adopted Regulation (EU) 2018/1999 (the Governance Regulation) in the Energy Community, which will be governing the establishment of NECPs from 2023.