Energy Community

Now out: The Energy Community Secretariat's second CBAM monitoring report has revealed challenges for renewable producers in the Western Balkans. 👇

👉 While Energy Community Contracting Parties turned into net importers of EU-sourced electricity, individual electricity exports to the EU that run counter to this broader trend appear to be exceptional. These may reflect factors beyond immediate market economics, such as expectations regarding amendments to the CBAM Regulation currently under negotiations in Brussels.

Read the report: https://bit.ly/4bOgrds

🧐 Curious to learn more? Join us this Friday, July 31st for an online briefing.

⏰ Time: 10:00-10:30 CET

💥 Register: https://lnkd.in/dRy_wDaD

You'll hear from Secretariat experts Péter Pozsgai and Martin Martinoski!

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What happened to Southeast Europe's electricity markets during the second quarter under CBAM's definitive regime?

Join us on Friday, 31 of July, for an online briefing of the Energy Community Secretariat's latest market monitoring report.

⏰ Time: 10:00-10:30 CET

💥 Register: https://www.energy-community.org/events/2026/07/CBAM.html



You'll hear from Secretariat experts Péter Pozsgai and Martin Martinoski who will cover:



📌 The latest developments in electricity markets in Southeast Europe

📌Are there differences compared to the first quarter of this year?

📌 What are the reported impacts in Contracting Parties in the first half of the year of CBAM as a policy instrument?

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Win a trip to the Just Transition Forum this October in Montenegro! 👇

If you're from the Western Balkans, Georgia, Moldova, or Ukraine, and between 18-30 years old, you still have *2 weeks* to submit to the 2026 Just Transition Young Voices Awards and help shape the transition in Southeast and Eastern Europe.

Here's how it works:



📣 Share your story in video format reflecting on the just transition in your community. Young people from across the Energy Community region can participate in the contest individually or in teams of two.

📌Videos are accepted in one of two categories:

• Creativity for Impact (30s–3 min)

• Storytelling for Impact (3–5 min)

🏆 Winners will join and present at the international Just Transition Forum in Montenegro this October, get capacity-building opportunities, and gain regional media visibility through partner platforms.

The second edition of the Just Transition Young Voices Awards is organised by the Energy Community Secretariat in cooperation with CEE Bankwatch Network, Balkan Green Energy News, Climate Action Network (CAN) Europe, and the Regional Youth Cooperation Office - RYCO Office.

👉 Find all details: https://bit.ly/4anKOqt

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💛 💙 Norway's EUR 45 million contribution brings its total lifetime support to the Ukraine Energy Support Fund to roughly EUR 209 million. Part of the funding will finance the pilot phase of a mechanism to reduce wartime investment risks in Ukraine's energy sector.



⏰ EUR 472 million remains to be mobilised ahead of the coming winter. Especially with Russian attacks intensifying in recent weeks, the window to complete repairs before winter is rapidly narrowing.



What's special about this contribution? 👇



1️⃣ The majority will strengthen the Fund's established procurement pipeline, ensuring energy companies have the critical equipment and services needed to restore damaged infrastructure and prepare for a fifth winter at war.



2️⃣ A second, pioneering component of Norway's contribution—around EUR 2 million—will finance the pilot phase of a new de-risking mechanism. The mechanism is designed to unlock private investment in Ukraine's energy sector, multiplying the impact of international donor support. It reduces risks and, hence, investment barriers through two complementary components.

🗣️ Said Energy Community Secretariat Director Artur Lorkowski. "Norway's contribution lays the foundations for a new model of recovery—one that mobilises private capital alongside public and donor financing."



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💛 💙 Denmark's DKK 80 million contribution brings its total lifetime support to the Fund to roughly EUR 84 million.

⏰ EUR 515 million remains to be mobilised ahead of the coming winter.

👉 As the primary vehicle through which international support to Ukraine's energy sector is channelled, the Fund and the Ministry of Energy of Ukraine are in the midst of urgent efforts to prepare the country's energy system ahead of another winter at war, a season during which any damage to energy infrastructure can cause prolonged states of emergency.

💥 Denmark's contribution is already being allocated to the priority procurement of equipment and services that energy companies need to receive before temperatures drop again to repair, rebuild, and prepare the installations that keep heat and light on for millions.

“Russia continues its attacks, leaving Ukrainians without light, heat and electricity. With our additional contribution to the Ukraine Energy Support Fund, we're helping rebuild critical energy infrastructure and preparing for the coming winter," said Lars Løkke Rasmussen, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Denmark.

"Recent escalations in Russian attacks have added layers of uncertainty that contributions like Denmark's help to absorb," said Artur Lorkowski, Director of the Energy Community Secretariat, which administers the Fund. "In an environment with little room for error, we depend on contributions like Denmark's to ensure that we can act at the speed and scale the situation demands."

Ahead of the Ukraine Recovery Conference in June, the Ministry of Energy of Ukraine, the European Commission, and the Energy Community Secretariat jointly called for an additional EUR 650 million to ensure winterisation efforts are effective. With Denmark's latest contribution, EUR 515 million remain to be mobilised.



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👉From the Western Balkans, Georgia, Moldova, or Ukraine? What are you doing this summer?

📽️ You have 1 month left to submit to the 2026 Just Transition Young Voices Awards and help shape the transition in Southeast and Eastern Europe.

Here's how it works:



📣 Share your story in video format reflecting on the just transition in your community. Young people (18–30) from across the Energy Community can participate in the contest individually or in teams of two.

📌Videos are accepted in one of two categories:

• Creativity for Impact (30s–3 min)

• Storytelling for Impact (3–5 min)

🏆 Winners will join and present at the international Just Transition Forum in Montenegro this October, get capacity-building opportunities, and gain regional media visibility through partner platforms.

The second edition of the Just Transition Young Voices Awards is organised by the Energy Community Secretariat in cooperation with CEE Bankwatch Network, Balkan Green Energy News, Climate Action Network (CAN) Europe, and the Regional Youth Cooperation Office - RYCO Office.

👉 Find all details: https://bit.ly/4anKOqt

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💙 💛 Sweden has contributed an additional SEK 1.370.000.000 SEK to the Ukraine Energy Support Fund, bringing Sweden's overall contribution to over €386 million. 👇

Channelled through the Sida - Styrelsen för Internationellt Utvecklingssamarbete -- this latest donation also marks a significant milestone for the Fund as a whole:

🗣️ "The support of our partners is an important component of the process of modernising and transforming Ukraine’s energy sector. We highly appreciate Sweden’s new contribution to the Ukraine Energy Support Fund, which has increased the total volume of contributions since its establishment to more than €2 billion," said Ukraine’s First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Energy, Denys Shmyhal.

🗣️ "Today marks an important milestone. With contributions worth over EUR 2 billion to the Fund, countries around the world are clearly proving that Ukraine is not alone. And what drives the fund is simple: solidarity," said EU Commissioner for Energy and Housing Dan Jørgensen. "While Russia keeps targeting relentlessly civilian energy infrastructure, we respond with unwavering support. We will keep protecting, rebuilding and standing behind Ukraine's energy system and its future in Europe for as long as it takes."

👉 Some Context:

Sweden's new contribution is particularly timely, arriving as the Fund is in the midst of winterisation efforts — supported by a newly optimized procurement process and the establishment of a strategic equipment reserve.

🗣️ "As the scale of the destruction caused by russia grows, so do the needs of Ukrainian energy companies," added Shmyhal. "Before Sweden’s contribution was received, the funding gap amounted to €663 million. Thanks to the support of our Swedish partners, this gap has been reduced somewhat, but it still remains significant. We hope that donors will continue to support Ukraine’s energy sector through the Ukraine Energy Support Fund mechanism."

"We see how Ukraine rebuilds for the short-term and reform for the long. But Ukraine cannot do this alone. For several years, Sweden, through Sida, has supported Ukraine in their work to ensure their country’s energy supply," Lisa Fredriksson, Head of SidaEurope Department, noted. "With electricity, heating and clean water, hospitals can treat the ill and injured; schools can educate the citizens of tomorrow; companies can secure employment and stimulate economic growth; the government can provide public services to the people. All this and more, depends on functioning energy infrastructure."

For more details: https://bit.ly/4gutQe0

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(Embassy of Sweden in Kyiv)

Yesterday, we held a first-of-its-kind event. Something that could begin to push the needle on much-needed financing for the energy transition in South East and Eastern Europe. 👇

The Energy Community Secretariat and KfW gathered power sector players, energy-intensive industries, private banks, and international financial institutions (IFIs) in Vienna for the first Energy Community Roundtable on Sustainable NECP Financing.

🎯 The goal: finding ways to increase and sustain financing for the Energy Community's energy transition, with a sharp focus on industry decarbonisation and energy efficiency — two of the most complex and capital-intensive pieces of the puzzle.

Some context:

📍 Across the Energy Community region, the conditions for such investment are emerging:

💥 On one hand, the region is advancing toward electricity market integration with the EU, even ahead of accession. This will create the stable regulatory frameworks and market size needed to open larger investment opportunities in renewables, grids, storage, and flexibility solutions.

🎫 At the same time, National Energy and Climate Plans (NECPs) can serve as implementation and investment frameworks, giving governments, regulators, banks, and investors a clear view of priorities, timelines, and financing needs for the transition. Yet these same plans point to extremely large investment needs.

So here's what we did:

1. Based on recent feedback from industry and banking stakeholders, participants explored ways to strengthen financing options, ranging from traditional debt financing and dedicated sustainable finance instruments to more innovative de-risking mechanisms.

2. They also discussed best practices from EU countries on decarbonisation roadmaps and financing partnerships, while identifying shared cross-sectoral priorities for commercial banks and international financial institutions (IFIs).

3. The event concluded by outlining a path forward for regular coordination and closer cooperation in aligning reform priorities, investment needs and financial support for the Energy Community’s clean transition.

Keep following us here for more updates on the energy sector in the Energy Community region.

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