BGF organizes the second Breakfast Meeting focusing on energy efficiency in the construction sector in Kosovo

The Balkan Green Foundation (BGF), with the support of the Heinrich Boll Foundation, organized the second  'Breakfast Meeting' on the topic: "Energy efficiency in the construction sector in Kosovo". The purpose of this meeting was to exchange information and interact between national and local level decision-makers, as well as other relevant experts in the field from the private sector, CSOs and donors, to identify challenges, and develop the necessary steps to improve the situation and standards in the sector.

Rinora Gojani, Program and Operations Manager at BGF, presented the current situation in Kosovo where it was said that the construction sector in the country is characterized by a lack of energy efficiency measures in most buildings (especially private ones). Also, Rinora highlighted three main points that need to be addressed: “1. Identification and registration of buildings throughout the territory of Kosovo and their categorization according to the quality of construction, to make an effective plan for interventions; 2. A detailed monitoring and inspection of the implementation of laws and regulations are needed, in all types of new buildings, as well as interventions in the older ones; 3. There should be fiscal and tax incentive measures so that old and energy-consuming equipment can not be traded locally, while facilities with good energy performance should be certified and  pay less property tax.”

The discussion with the participants reflected: on the achievements from investments in efficiency measures where officials from the Agency and the EE Fund, spoke about the successes in this sector, especially in relation to public buildings, where it is expected that most public buildings by 2023 be covered by energy efficiency measures, thanks to domestic financial support and foreign donors; the need to implement the above proposals by the BGF, and the necessary steps for the implementation of the Energy Performance Certificates (CPE) and the Unique Building Code which is missing in the country. Lack of institutional coordination and clear division of competencies affects the non-implementation of CPEs. In order to overcome this situation, it is important to change a number of laws including those related to energy efficiency measures (such as: Law on Energy Performance in Buildings, Law on Energy Efficiency) but also those related to property, as there is a very high number of illegal objects.

Officials from MESP stressed that the Construction Code was never finalized and as such will continue to be lacking due to a lack of institutional capacity to draft such a document, which requires to be quite detailed. However, the discussion stressed the fact that every construction in Kosovo must be subject to Technical Regulation which implements EU standards.

Moreover, the participants emphasized the lack of social awareness and the fact that our collective behavior does not coincide with efficiency, and this mentality must change!