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Energy supply in Western Balkan countries is heavily dependent on imported fossil fuels, costing over $4.1 billion in 2012.  With demand for energy in the six countries of the Western Balkans expected to increase by as much as 70% in the coming two decades, policymakers are now being faced with the daunting challenge of meeting this demand in an affordable and sustainable manner.  The World Bank Group, with support from ESMAP, is working with the region’s governments to significantly scale-up energy efficiency programs.

A new report, Scaling-Up Energy Efficiency in Buildings in the Western Balkans, provides a roadmap for how countries in the region can achieve significant and sustained efficiency gains in one of the most promising areas for energy efficiency savings: public buildings. Having identified the potential effectiveness of these measures, governments throughout the region are now working with the World Bank Group on ways to actually implement many of these measures, with recently completed programs in Macedonia and Serbia and ongoing investment programs in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and a new project in Kosovo.

A new series of guidance notes makes a wide range of recommendations on scaling up energy efficiency - ranging from the development of a functioning energy-services market to the establishment of a funding mechanism to finance future efficiency projects.

Learn more:  Feature Story  |  Read the Report