The Energy Community, which brings together the European Union and Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Georgia, Moldova, Montenegro, Serbia and Ukraine as contracting parties, announced on Tuesday 14 January that it was exploring four carbon pricing options proposed by the European Commission, including a regional emissions trading system (ETS).
The other options are a fixed-price ETS, a carbon tax and integration into the EU ETS.
These options were presented at the December 2024 Energy Community Ministerial Council in Vienna. The contracting parties are now invited to communicate their preferred carbon pricing policy scenarios to the European Commission and the Secretariat “well ahead of the Informal Ministerial Council in July 2025”.
In particular, this will inform the draft proposal for updating the Decarbonisation Roadmap, which includes a commitment to achieving climate neutrality by 2050. This proposal, prepared by the Commission, is expected to be adopted by the Ministerial Council in 2025.
According to Artur Lorkowski, Director of the Energy Community Secretariat, the carbon pricing decisions taken by the contracting parties should align them more closely with the EU system, in line with the polluter pays principle.
“The Energy Community could make an effective contribution to the gradual establishment of national carbon pricing systems, while ensuring that the integrity of the electricity market is preserved”, he stressed. (Original version in French by Pauline Denys)