Minister: Serbia Raises Climate Change Response Goals

Irena Vujovic (BETAPHOTO/MILAN OBRADOVIC/MO)

Serbian Minister of Environmental Protection Irena Vujovic said on Oct. 31 that Serbia had raised its climate ambitions threefold as part of the recently adopted revised Nationally Determined Contributions to reducing greenhouse emissions.

"We plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 33.3 percent from 1990 emission levels in all relevant sectors by 2030," Vujovic told an assembly on the Dialog on Climate Change in Belgrade, held ahead of the U.N.'s upcoming COP27 summit in Egypt.

Vujovic told reporters after the assembly that the results and effects of applying measures to reduce air pollution in Serbia could be expected this heating season, but that an adjustment period was necessary for the biggest polluters.

European Union Delegation to Serbia head Emanuele Giaufret said the world was facing a double crisis: climate and energy, and that the EU supported Serbia in concrete action to overcome both.

As European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen announced, the EU will provide direct budget support in the amount of EUR165 million to combat the energy crisis, Giaufret said. At the same time, the EU supports Serbia in increasing its energy efficiency in public and privately owned buildings and increase the share of renewable energy sources. We welcome Serbia's advanced climate ambitions and call for long-term strategies to be adopted with a view to climate neutrality by 2050, he added.

Francoise Jacob, resident U.N. coordinator in Serbia, said the priority in a very short period should be more efficient energy consumption for heating and cooling, which would reduce carbon dioxide emissions and the consumption of natural resources while also boosting the economy's competitiveness.