Aleksandar Macura, our programme director, participated at Macedonian Energy Forum named “The New Energy Landscape: Recovered, Repowered, Repurposed”, which was held on 10-11 June in Skopje. The aim of this year’s discussions was to address ambitious plans to replace coal capacities with renewable energy sources and repurpose their assets and human capital for the new RES-powered world and provide direction and fresh views on how we all need to build a renewable energy landscape while taking care of energy security.
Macura gave his contribution within Berlin Process Insights Session “Decoding a Decade: The Berlin Process and its Impact on the Green Energy Transition in the Western Balkans”. The Berlin process presents a pivotal forum for Western Balkan countries’ joint initiatives to get close to EU membership. This process has fostered intra-country dialogue, dialogue with the EU, and investments in digitalization, skills and energy. How did the Berlin process support the green energy transition? How can the Berlin process further invigorate the Western Balkans’ energy agenda, and how can it support Western Balkan countries in contributing and benefiting from the European Green Deal? Macura underlined that leaving no one behind in the context of energy transition is not just the question of justice but precondition for its feasibility. Combatting energy poverty and creating environment in which citizens’ savings are mobilised for investments in energy efficiency and renewable energy are essential activities. We also need to clearly identify which costs of energy transition are paid by the end users who are able to pay and which costs are paid by taxpayers.
This session was organized in partnership with the Embassy of Germany to North Macedonia.
See the photo gallery (photo credit: Mirko Popović and MEF):