Hanna Szemző, managing director of Metropolitan Research Institute gave a presentation at the launch event for a new report by the Prince of Wales’s Corporate Leaders Group (CLG) titled ‘The energy transition in Central and Eastern Europe: The business case for higher ambition’ in Bucharest on the 21 of March 2019.
The report in question was prepared by MRI with the cooperation of Energiaklub, Mobilissimus and Ada Ámon from E3G for the Prince of Wales’s Corporate Leaders Group (CLG), a business platform convened by the University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL). The paper provides a brief analysis of energy generation, energy efficiency in buildings and energy efficiency in mobility aimed at business and policy audiences.
The main objective of the paper is to illustrate the broad range of business opportunities for investors intending to enter the CEE market and to inform them about possible challenges as well as business opportunities. The report focuses on 11 EU member states in the CEE region (new member states without Malta and Cyprus), and highlights both the similarities and differences in the CEE region. For example, the shared socialist heritage continues to influence many facets of the daily life in countries across the CEE region (e.g. high ownership rate in the residential sector, huge amount of prefabricated buildings), with an impact on the energy transition. At the same time, the CEE countries have differences in respect to the achievements in energy transition. While some countries have already introduced subsidy schemes to foster energy efficient interventions decades ago (and consequently 30-50% of their residential building stock has been renovated already), others struggle to strengthen the legal background of condominium operation and energy regulations. Despite these differences it has become evident that in all CEE countries energy transition is a strongly over-politicized topic, resulting in uncertainties when business decisions are concerned.
The full study – The energy transition in Central and Eastern Europe: The business case for higher ambition – is available on the website of The Prince of Wales’s Corporate Leaders Group.