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The Green Agenda is alive and well, but it’s getting lost in the political fog

Sonja Kramarska

Environment

10.10.24

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Macedonia has more than 20 environmental laws and 400 by-laws – an impressive number but also one that shows the need for hyperproduction of regulations to cover up the lack of interest in progress in this area.

The Green Agenda is conquering the world in a big way, and Macedonia, as in everything else, is also late for that. If we listen to the politicians, the country is a leader in the region in terms of investments in sources of renewable energy and support for green transition.

That was something that the previous government was proud of. The then Minister Kreshnik Bekteshi flew to Dubai at the UN Climate Summit to present Macedonia's Energy Transition Investment Program. He spoke about the plan to close the coal-fired power plants and switch to green and renewable energy sources. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) supported the Macedonian government in the development of the platform and will lead the coordination with the international partners.

The program provides for the conversion of the coal-fired power plants with additional investments in renewable energy sources, economic regeneration of the Pelagonian and Southwest regions as well as energy efficiency, clean heating energy, and a decentralized generation program. The plan is to close the two coal-fired power plants in Macedonia – REK Bitola and TEC Oslomej – and replace them with 1.7 gigawatts of renewable energy. In that way, Macedonia would reduce net greenhouse gas emissions by 82 percent by 2030 compared to the 1990 levels.

But plans are one thing, and their implementation is quite another thing. It is moving slowly and seems to be placed on the margins of politics and economics. The Green Agenda is alive and well, but it seems to be lost in the political fog. The current government had a good start by presenting the "Alcazar-Energy" investment for the construction of 55 wind turbines for the generation of electricity between Karbinci, Shtip, and Radovish.

The prime minister said the construction will start in June 2025. The energy transition is a task undertaken by the current government in the package of reforms that it presented in Brussels to get a share of the cake from the Western Balkans Growth Plan. Energy transition – which is about transformation of the energy sector and shift from the generation of energy using fossil fuels towards the use of renewable energy sources – is the main pillar of the Green Agenda. The goal is for the countries to reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions to limit the effects of climate change and reduce pollution.

Pollution takes a toll on blood

That fact that the Green Agenda is occasionally alive is also evidenced by other actions of the previous government. Former Deputy Prime Minister for European Affairs, Bojan Maricic, wrote on his "Facebook" profile on the occasion of the Earth Day that the Green Agenda represents a green future and a future of prosperity and that now is the time to use the political will for European reforms and to commit ourselves to its essence. He also said that the new EU instrument for pre-accession assistance (IPA III) has a total budget of over 14 billion euros for the period 2021-2027, most of which is intended for projects related to the Green Agenda, saying that we “must make the most of them".

This amount amply illustrates how important the Green Agenda is for the future of humanity. When reporting on accountability on the occasion of one hundred days of the new government, Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski reminded that the application of the carbon trade mechanism begins on January 1, 2026, which means that all companies that export from Macedonia to the EU must demonstrate that the products they export are produced using green renewable energy.

However, the political dynamics and the pressure from the public impose other priorities. Major upheavals primarily depend on governments, and governments, in turn, depend on the mood of the public, which is always hungry for various news, such as whether prices will decrease, whether there will be subsidies and whether pensions and salaries will increase. In this regard, the thing that is actually the most important – a healthy human environment – is an issue that is continuously pushed to the margins of both the governmental interest and the public interest.

Зелената агенда е жива, но се губи во политичката маглаSource: pixabay.com

A few years ago, Macedonia adopted the new Energy Strategy which sets the green scenario, and also revised the National Contribution to the Climate Agreement from Paris. The countries from the Western Balkans, including us, also became part of the Green Deal reached by the EU.

However, all these things are implemented thanks to the push and pressure from the European Union. At home, we should be, of course, more concerned about the situation in which we live. Pollution takes a toll and that toll is literally in blood. The data speaks for itself. Every ninth death among newborns in Macedonia is related to polluted air, according to this year's UNICEF report. UNICEF Europe and Central Asia has released a new policy document that states that in 2021 over 5,480 infants in 23 countries and territories across Europe and Central Asia have died from air pollution-related causes. In Macedonia, infant deaths related to air pollution account for 11.6 percent or 1 in 9 deaths of children under one year of age.

We do not need to be reminded that the risks of polluted air in our country are particularly high. In January 2024, Skopje was again among the top 10 most polluted cities in the world, with the average levels of PM10 or PM2.5 particles exceeding the permissible limits more than 100 days a year. A few months earlier, "The Guardian" published a story from Skopje titled: "The air tastes like burnt plastic - the chronic problem with the pollution in Skopje".

The Law on Climate Action Act is put aside

All the above mentioned are, obviously, not an alarm for our authorities to push for a more intensive offensive in this area. The Law on Climate Action still cannot see the light of day, although the ministers of the environment have been winning political points on that topic for years. All deadlines for its adoption have been breached. Thanks to that Law, the institutions will be legally bound to implement decarbonization activities and will ensure the measurability of the degree of decarbonization - primarily in the energy and transport sectors – but also in other sectors that have the potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The future Law on Climate Action foresees new obligations for the government authorities and local governments, the introduction of new bodies with new mandates as well as new tax for polluters – carbon tax. Government institutions will have to establish an institutional structure for monitoring, reporting, and verification of greenhouse gas emissions, as well as a National Coordinating Body for all climate action-related measures and policies of the country.

Perhaps this is precisely the reason why this important Law has not yet been adopted. The awareness of having a cleaner human environment is an issue that has difficulties penetrating in Macedonia and it has been losing the battle for years with carelessness and greed for profit. An example of that is the capital city, where every winter we hear mutual accusations about who is to blame for the enormous pollution – it becomes a real "Sherlock Holmes enigma" who is to blame for the pollution. Is it the old cars and city buses, is it the rare industrial facilities, the illegal dumpsites, or all of them together?

Speaking of illegal dumpsites, the estimate in the most recent National Waste Management Plan is that there are over 2,000 illegal landfills in the country. Despite these numbers, the construction of the five planned modern regional centers for waste management has not yet started, even though a grant has been approved by the EU and a loan from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. The Annual Report of the European Commission for 2023, Chapter 27, states that in 2024, the authorities should put into use the regional waste management system in the Eastern and North Eastern regions. The year is ending but the facilities' capacities have not been built.

Let's not even talk about recycling activities – there is a requirement in this Plan that 70 percent of the product packaging should be recycled in 2024. There are other ambitious objectives foreseen in the National Waste Management Plan, but even a quick skim through its extensive content is sufficient to see that most of it is only on paper.

The photovoltaic as a business – not a solution

When I was comparing my personal impressions with the facts about the Green Agenda situation, I came across data that Macedonia has more than 20 environmental laws and 400 by-laws – an impressive number but also one that shows the need for hyperproduction of regulations to cover up the lack of interest for progress in this area. The Annual Report of the European Commission for 2023 shows disappointment in the fact that the government has some level of preparation in this area but that in general there is limited progress.

Fortunately, the pursuit of business and profit from the implementation of photovoltaics paved the way for the Green Agenda, although that same business and profit very often, as we said above, get in the way of its implementation. The Regulatory Commission for Energy and Water Services (RKE) issued licenses in the period January - July 2024 for the generation of electricity from renewable sources with a total installed capacity of 179.72 megawatts. Licenses were also issued in 2023 for a total installed capacity of nearly 399 megawatts; and in 2022 for a total installed capacity of 152.2 megawatts.

Nevertheless, we can conclude that the Green Agenda is being implemented with variable dynamics, but the important thing is that it is alive and "healthy". Finally, here is a small flashback on the failed rebranding of one political party, which was quick to take credit for being a visionary in green politics, announcing that it was shifting its activities to the Green Agenda. This venture was, of course, marketing and was unsuccessful, so the party quickly returned to its old policies.

The only thing that remained were the electric scooters driven by the Minister and his associates in front of the press cameras, before getting into the dark limousines again, as an illustration, that there are miles and miles between promises and implementation. This includes years of development in which the Green Agenda is sometimes seen and sometimes lost.

 
The blog was created as part of the “Tales from the Region” initiative led by Res Publica and Institute of Communication Studies, in cooperation with partners from Montenegro (PCNEN), Kosovo (Sbunker), Serbia (Autonomija), Bosnia and Herzegovina (Analiziraj.ba), and Albania (Euronews), within the project "Use of facts-based journalism to raise awareness of and counteract disinformation in the North Macedonia media space (Use Facts)" with the support of the British Embassy in Skopje.

Sonja Kramarska

Sonia Kramarska is a journalist, author of several publications, and former editor-in-chief of "Utrinski Vesnik" and the NovaTV portal. In her career, she has been awarded the journalist of the year award and the highest award, "Mito Hadjivasilev Jasmin.” She has spent one academic year at the University of Oklahoma in the USA as part of the professional development program. She also worked as an adviser on political issues and communications to the former Minister of Defense, Radmila Shekerinska.