Energy Community and National Energy and Climate Plans

On 18 November 2015, the European Commission adopted a Communication on the State of the Energy Union stating that integrated national energy and climate plans, addressing all five key dimensions of the energy union, are crucial tools for the implementation of the Energy Union Strategy and for the development of more strategic energy and climate policy planning.

Recognizing, that 'the development of integrated national energy and climate plans by the Contracting Parties would support the attainment of the long-term energy and climate policy objectives, reduce the administrative burden and enhance transparency while promoting investor certainty in the region', the Energy Community Ministerial Council adopted the Recommendation 2018/01/EnC-MC in November 2018. The Recommendation

• urges the Contracting Parties to 'prepare the analytical, institutional and regulatory preconditions for the development and adoption of integrated national energy and climate plans ('NECPs') for the period from 2021 to 2030'.
• establishes the Energy and Climate Committee to coordinate and support the Contracting Parties in their efforts.

The adoption of Governance Regulation 2018/1999 on 30 November 2021 marked the next step. Adopted and adapted by Decision 2021/14/MC-EnC, the Regulation sets common rules for planning, reporting and monitoring on energy and climate policies and targets. In particular, the Contracting Parties will be required to submit National Energy and Climate Plans.

This section outlines the legal context within the European Union framework, documents the Energy Community's work on the NECPs and the achievements so far. 

 

NECPs and the Energy Community

Legal framework 

With the Decision 2021/14/MC-EnC, the Contracting Parties committed themselves to transpose and implement the Governance Regulation by 31 December 2022. Also, during the course of the year, the European Commission's study "Extension of the EU energy and climate modelling capacity to include the Energy Community and its nine Contracting Parties” is expected to be finalized. Its results will be the basis for an intensive interaction with Contracting Parties at political level to agree on energy and climate headline targets for the post-2020 period.

Until December 2021, the work on the NECPs in the Energy Community context was based on:

• Ministerial Council Recommendation 2018/01/MC-EnC, and,
• Secretariat's Policy Guidelines  03/2018.  
   

Milestones

In the course of 2021, the Contracting Parties continued developing their draft NECPs and carrying out the related modelling activities.

• First Drafts
  The Secretariat assists the Contracting Parties by providing informal input to the first drafts of their plans. By July 2021, the Secretariat had provided informal comments to first drafts from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Montenegro and North Macedonia.
  Once finalized, the NECP drafts are officially submitted to the Secretariat for its assessment and recommendations.
• Recommendations
  In fall 2020, the Secretariat provided recommendations to North Macedonia, and in December 2021 to Albania on their draft NECPs. Additional drafts are expected from other Contracting Parties.

In terms of transposing and implementing the Governance Regulation in the Energy Community context, the Contracting Parties will be requested to submit an NECP in 2024 and integrated energy and climate progress reports every two years starting from 2025. The Secretariat is responsible for monitoring the progress both at national and at regional level. 

The table below displays the submitted and/or published documents so far.
 

Contracting Party	Draft NECP	Secretariat's Recommendation	Final NECPs	Secretariat's Assessment
Albania	download	download	pending	pending
Bosnia and Herzegovina	pending	pending	pending	pending
Georgia	pending	pending	pending	pending
Kosovo*	pending	pending	pending	pending
Moldova	pending	pending	pending	pending
Montenegro	pending	pending	pending	pending
North Macedonia	download	download	pending	pending
Serbia	pending	pending	pending	pending
Ukraine	pending	pending	pending	pending