Montenegro NGO urges new cabinet to pass NECP, set coal exit

Date: November 2^nd 2023

Topic: Electricity , Renewables , Coal , Energy policy , CO2 emissions , Economy , Ecology , En.vision

Montenegro’s new energy and ecology ministries are expected to unblock stalled reforms that are needed for the country’s green energy transition and set a final coal phase-out deadline, an environmental NGO said.

Following three years of constant political turbulence during which two governments have been ousted, Montenegro's parliament appointed a new cabinet on Tuesday, led by economist Milojko Spajic.

His government will have 19 ministries, including the energy and mining ministry. The sector was previously governed by the capital investments ministry.

Sasa Mujovic, the dean of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering in Podgorica, has been appointed at the helm of this new ministry, while Vladimir Martinovic, a lawyer and the mayor of the Kolasin municipality, will lead the ecology ministry.

Milija Cabarkapa, the head of Eco-team NGO, told Montel on Thursday that the two ministries in coordination with the rest of the cabinet need to urgently finalise the National Energy and Climate Plan (NECP), a key document for the strategic planning of the country’s energy policy.

Coal phase-out

“The government should also outline when it plans to abandon coal,” said Cabarkapa. According to him, this is needed to ensure efficient planning for the just transition and economic diversification of the coal-reliant northern Pljevlja region.

The Montenegrin sole 225 MW Pljevlja coal-fired power plant, operated by the EPCG utility, has already exceeded an additional 20,000 hours of operation under the opt-out mechanism, prompting the Vienna-based Energy Community to open an infringement case against Montenegro for non-compliance with the Large Combustion Plants Directive (LCPD).

Meanwhile, the ecology ministry should define conservation areas and protect them from further exploitation, said Cabarkapa.

“It is of utmost importance that these ministries, and institutions in general, finally start to implement all measures and obligations that are defined by the Western Balkans Green Agenda,” he noted.

“Disastrous” results

The recent analysis done by his NGO showed that Montenegro has fulfilled a mere 2% of its commitments under the Green Agenda, which aims to align the Western Balkans with the European Green Deal and make Europe carbon-neutral by 2050.

“Such results are rather disastrous,” said Cabarkapa.

In its 2022 report the Energy Community also assessed that transposition of the new renewables and energy efficiency directives is at an early stage, while work to transpose the 2021 electricity legislation is yet to begin in Montenegro.