The Energy Community Secretariat has published its Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) “Readiness Tracker” report on the organisation’s Contracting Parties’ progress in decarbonisation and contribution to achieving the Energy Community 2030 climate and energy targets (5 July).
The Contracting Parties include Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Georgia, Moldova, Montenegro, Serbia and Ukraine.
The EU CBAM regulation will require importers of certain energy-intensive goods to pay a levy in respect of their imports that corresponds to the price of emissions allowances under the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS). The regulation will enter a transitional phase on 1 October this year, with the first reporting period for importers ending on 31 January 2024.
Electricity exporters from the Contracting Parties can be exempted from the levy, if their country’s power market is coupled with the EU internal electricity market, and meets certain conditions, including implementing an ETS by 2030.
The Readiness Tracker” report highlighted progress in the development of the electricity market and renewables and monitors the implementation of energy efficiency measures across the sectors. In addition, it outlined the progress in meeting climate commitments taken by the Contracting Parties in light of the Paris Agreement.
A dedicated section also focused on the developments in Ukraine. However, due to restrictions on the publication of certain data during the country’s martial law, the full set of relevant data for 2022 was not disclosed.
Energy efficiency continues to present challenges, despite notable renewables uptake
According to the report’s findings, electricity production has dropped to its lowest levels in five years, whilst fossil-fuelled thermal power plants maintained stable production with a slight increase. Carbon emissions from power plants, excluding Ukraine, increased by 2 per cent compared to the previous year but remained below the five-year average from 2018 to 2022.
In terms of power market integration progress has been made in establishing day-ahead markets in Albania, Montenegro, and North Macedonia, while Georgia’s launch of short-term markets has been postponed to July 2024.
Installations based on solar, wind, and biofuels have increased five times in the last five years, accounting for 5 per cent of total installed capacities in 2022 compared to just 1 per cent in 2017. Self-consumption of renewable energy has also gained traction, with 58,487 active self-consumers across the Contracting Parties and a total installed capacity of 1,728 MW in 2022. Noteworthy progress has been made in renewables auctions, with Albania continuing its auctions and Georgia, Kosovo, and Serbia initiating their first auctions in 2023.
Energy consumption has continued to rise across all Contracting Parties in 2021, positioning energy efficiency as a major challenge going forward. In particular, investments in building renovations still fall short, representing less than 40 per cent of the annual investment needs. However, efforts are underway to finalise long-term building renovation strategies to attract more investments, the report noted.
