In the premises of Elektroprivreda BiH, last week, a meeting of the Program Committee was held with the aim of
more precisely defining the program and panels within the Sarajevo Energy and Climate Week (SECW),
which will be held from 25 to 29 September 2023. The meeting was attended by representatives of
USAID, UNDP, GIZ, KfW, the EU4Energy project, Elektroprivreda BiH, Elektroprivreda HZHB and Energoinvest.
During the discussions, the participants emphasized that the key topic for the panel discussion is the just transition of coal-rich regions, within which representatives of the World Bank would present the results of a project dedicated to the transition of coal regions with a roadmap. The roadmap contains activities such as opening new jobs, retraining workers, building infrastructure, remediation and use of devastated areas caused by coal exploitation.
In addition to the mentioned topic, a very important and current issue both in BiH and in the region is the improvement of the electricity market. Bosnia and Herzegovina is still the only country in the region that does not have an electricity exchange, and at the same time it is the only exporter, so the organizers will hold a panel on this issue on the first day of Sarajevo Energy and Climate Week. Panel participants will include representatives of regulatory bodies from BiH and countries in the region, the Energy Community Secretariat, electricity trading companies, etc.
One of the key topics for the BiH economy is the introduction of charges for carbon dioxide emissions (carbon pricing), especially for the power, cement and metal industries. Through the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations, Bosnia and Herzegovina has launched activities to introduce an emissions trading system. In this way, the application of the so-called CBAM will be avoided, which would mean paying when exporting goods from BiH to the EU in proportion to the carbon dioxide emissions generated during the production of those goods.
This would jeopardize the competitiveness of the main export goods from BiH to the EU.
Other panels will cover challenges related to building transmission and distribution networks for connecting renewable sources, sources of financing for renewable energy projects, the circular economy as an important element of the energy transition, energy efficiency on the consumption side, new business models in energy such as energy services (ESCO), electric transport, decarbonization of district heating, environmental requirements that projects must meet, etc.
Given the very rich program, the organizers have opened a call for participants, which can be found on the website:https://secw.ba/
