While September for students brings a chance to pass the remaining exams, for us, who follow the European integration process September brings the opportunity to reunite at the regional Move.Link.Engage Conference, and to see how far we have come in this process so far. Environmental, climate change and energy policy topics are gaining more attention each year and will be the subject of a conference for the third year running. Before we announce what we will be talking about this year, let us look back at the not so distant past, in whose conditions, it seems, we still live.

2017 - How to reconcile climate and energy policy?

Let us first return to 2017, when the Ministry of Environmental Protection was formed, which looked like the final commitment of the state to seriously address the issues of environmental protection and improvement. In November of that year, arrived a Shadow Coalition Report 27, entitled "Chapter 27 in Serbia: Still in preparation" but it did not bring any optimistic conclusions. Even the opposite. The slow pace of adoption of regulations, their inadequate implementation, lack of transparency in decision-making, as well as lack of sufficient capacities (financial and human), marked the situation in Chapter 27.

There were no positive changes in the energy sector either. The countries of the Western Balkans, even then as today, have co-opted with obsolete energy plants that rely on lignite as fuel, with high energy losses and environmental risks.

During the summer of 2017, the Ministry of Mining and Energy adopted the Program for the Implementation of the Energy Development Strategy of the Republic of Serbia by 2025, with projections until 2030, for the period from 2017 to 2023, which foresee new thermal power plants whose installed power is measured in gigawatts. By planning to dig coal for energy production in the decades ahead of us, we have virtually dug up any serious ambitions in the fight against climate change. However, the question is whether we can continue to develop the energy sector without taking climate change into account. That same year, the Energy Community sent signatory states to develop energy plans that should integrate climate change measures into energy policy.

As part of the third Move.Link.Engage Conference, the panel “Environment, Energy and Climate Change in the EU accession process of WB6: The contribution of civil society organizations” brought together representatives of the Energy Community, Climate Action Network (CAN), Bankwatch networks and RES foundations, which noted inconsistencies in energy and climate change decision-making, but also emphasized the importance of civil society organizations for monitoring and influencing decision-makers to adopt laws, strategies, regulations and other acts that are in line with European legislation.

2018 - the year of good energy?

Good energy, with long-term planning and dialogue with all stakeholders, involves the use of renewable energy sources and energy efficiency. In both of these areas, we are still far away in achieving our goals.

One of the reasons is the poor functioning of the energy management system, whose establishment is in its infancy. Only 40% of cities and municipalities have appointed an energy manager, and only 9% report to the Ministry of Mines and Energy on the achieved savings targets. Even more devastating is the fact that 95% of cities and municipalities have not yet adopted an Energy Efficiency Program. Although we have committed ourselves to a 9% reduction in energy consumption by 2018 with the First Energy Efficiency Action Plan, we are only halfway to that goal. In the meantime, according to the International Energy Agency, Serbia's energy intensity is three times higher than in the EU countries, which indicates that concrete measures need to be taken. In order to contribute to the achievement of good energy, we established with the RES Foundation and the Vojvodina Mountain Movement a Network of Good Energy, in which good energy is discussed and where good energy is shared.

Why is it important to talk about good energy?

Serbia, as a candidate country for EU membership, should align its legislation with the EU acquis.

The standards set by the European Union are getting more and more ambitious. By 2018, targets were set at 27% for renewable energy and energy efficiency. According to the European Climate and Energy Framework 2018, a reduction of 32.5% in final energy consumption and a 32% increase in renewable energy use is planned by 2030. The question is, can Serbia, with its current legal framework, achieve the set goals? At the same time, according to the Energy Community, we are obliged to reach 27% of renewable energy sources in consumption by 2020, but we are quite far from this task. Renewable energy sources in Serbia have become synonymous for mini hydro plants, which are very problematic and this challenge has escalated in 2018.

At the fourth Move.Link.Engage conference we talked about good energy within the panel "Good Energy in EU Accession, from Local to Regional Level: How to Get There?". The panel brought together experts from the institutions of the European Union, Serbia and the region, from the private and civil sectors, to discuss the need to improve energy sector governance in the Western Balkan countries. In addition to promoting energy efficiency and increased use of renewable energy sources, the implementation of measures that contribute to the sustainability of energy systems, light was put on the effects of existing energy systems on public health, the environment and the climate.

It is noticeable that there is a lack of political will to change the energy mix of Serbia in the direction of renewable energy sources, since such a turn would bring numerous social, economic and energy problems. The concept of a just energy transition is barely talked even though a transition is inevitable. It depends on us will the energy transition receive the name "just". By now, we stay silent.

2019 - Winter is comming!

At the fifth conference, the panel "Winter is Coming! Air Pollution as a Press Challenge for the Western Balkan Countries “will address the problem of polluted air in the Western Balkan countries.

It should be recalled that a World Health Organization report estimates that in 2016 alone, there were 11,400 premature deaths in Serbia due to exposure to polluted air. Are people in Serbia aware of this? In a society where data from the Environmental Protection Agency reach only 48% of the availability of valid hourly values ​​and when PM particles, as the most significant cause of excessive air pollution, are measured at a small number of automatic measuring stations, citizens are deprived of accurate, reliable and timely data. What is the quality of the air they are exposed to, how should they behave and what are the consequences of polluted air having on their health? On August 30, the Agency published its annual report on air quality in Serbia for 2018. As the Air Protection Act stipulates that the Report is due to be published by the end of February of the current year for the previous year, this cannot be considered as timely reporting. Following this practice, we can only expect a report on current air quality at the end of 2020. Then it will be useful for us to justify the number of premature deaths, which, you will agree, should not be its function. And will we learn something from this year's report? It remains for us to see.

The Belgrade Open School launched a pioneering initiative on civic air quality measurement earlier this year to raise awareness among the general public about the problem of polluted air and at the same time raise the advocacy capacity of citizens and local organizations. The plan is to expand the network of civilian air quality measurement in other cities in Serbia, Nis, Valjevo, Kraljevo, Smederevo and Bor, where residents are particularly at risk due to high concentrations of harmful substances and gases, as well as the involvement of the IT sector, economy and other actors in this topic.

See you on September 12 and 13, at the Zira Hotel, to see if and how much we have progressed and what we can do to get better grades in the European Commission's Annual Reports on Serbia in order to become better students by next September.

Photo source: Belgrade Open School