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Cross-Border Journalism Strengthens Understanding of Just Transition
From Coal Region to Transformation Model
Once a symbol of Europe’s industrial and coal-mining power, the Ruhr region today represents one of Europe’s best-known examples of long-term economic, social and environmental transformation following the transition away from coal mining. During the five-day visit, participants explored how former industrial areas have been repurposed into spaces for sustainable urban development, culture, public life and new economic activities.
The programme included visits to Zeche Zollern in Dortmund, Landschaftspark Duisburg Nord, Bernepark and the Freiheit Emscher redevelopment project. Through guided tours and discussions with experts, participants observed different dimensions of transformation – from preserving industrial heritage and educating future generations about the region’s history to converting former industrial land into green public spaces and large-scale urban development projects. These examples illustrated how former coal and industrial areas can be transformed into assets that benefit both local communities and the environment.
Participants observed how environmental restoration, economic diversification and long-term planning can support climate action while improving air quality and quality of life for local communities. The visit also highlighted that successful transition requires the active involvement of local stakeholders and a clear vision for the future of former coal regions.
Lessons for the Western Balkans
Particular attention was given to how experiences from the Ruhr region could inspire coal-dependent communities such as Breza in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Obiliq in Kosovo, which continue to face challenges related to energy transition. Through discussions with experts and local stakeholders, participants gained a deeper understanding of how former mining areas can be transformed into places that offer new economic opportunities while preserving local identity and improving living conditions.
„Phase-out of coal does not just mean closing the mines, but completely reinventing the region. I liked how the Ruhr area creates economic opportunities through art, culture and innovative urban development. This creates new places with a high quality of life for the population.“
Participant Sara Delić from Sarajevo
Strengthening Climate Journalism and Regional Exchange
Alongside the site visits, the programme included workshops on climate journalism, group exercises and a screening of the documentary film Vom Ende eines Zeitalters (“The End of an Era”), followed by discussions with filmmakers and artists about the social dimensions of coal phase-out and regional transformation.
The study visit provided participants with an opportunity to exchange experiences on reporting about climate change and energy transition in different media and social contexts. Particular focus was placed on the role of journalism in communicating complex transition processes to the public and developing stories that highlight concrete solutions and long-term perspectives.
Developing Joint Cross-Border Stories
The study visit marked the beginning of the one-year Green Journalism Scholarship Programme implemented by Germanwatch, Balkan Green Foundation and CENER 21. In the coming months, participants will work in international teams to develop and publish joint cross-border stories focused on just transition, sustainable development and climate policies in coal regions.
By connecting young journalists from Germany, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo, the programme aims to strengthen independent, evidence-based and solution-oriented climate journalism while encouraging regional cooperation and greater public understanding of transition pathways in the Western Balkans and beyond.
Do Methane Emissions Matter to Investors? Lessons from the I-MER Investor Briefing
On 9 April 2026, the I-MER project hosted a dedicated investor briefing exploring how improved data, regulatory frameworks, and investor engagement are reshaping the way the oil and gas industry accounts for – and reduces – fugitive methane emissions. The webinar brought together experts from the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), the UN Environment Programme’s International Methane Emissions Observatory (IMEO), and one of the world’s largest asset managers, Amundi.
Methane Risk Is Already Moving Markets
The event was organised by the Bucharest University of Economic Studies (ASE) and RoSIF, with support from EDF and the European Climate Initiative (EUKI), in partnership with the Singapore Green Finance Centre. It is part of Work Package 5 of the I-MER project, focused on investor outreach.
Ismael Hernandez Rivera, Senior Manager for Sustainable Finance at EDF, opened with a striking example: in September 2025, Australian oil and gas company Santos lost 10% of its market value in a single day following the revelation of a long-running methane leak at its Darwin LNG plant. The incident – rooted in a design fault present since the facility’s commissioning – also affected an ongoing acquisition by Abu Dhabi National Oil Company.
The message was clear: methane is not only a climate issue. It is a financial one.
Methane is responsible for roughly 22% of global warming over a 100-year horizon, but over 20 years, that share rises to 45%. In the energy sector alone, it accounts for 22% of total methane emissions. Crucially, nearly half of oil and gas methane abatement opportunities come at zero or negative cost – meaning that capturing leaked gas is not just good for the climate, it can also recover revenue.
OGMP 2.0: The Gold Standard for Methane Reporting
A significant portion of the webinar focused on the Oil and Gas Methane Partnership (OGMP 2.0), a comprehensive measurement-based reporting framework housed under UNEP’s IMEO. Georgie Passalaris, who leads stakeholder engagement at IMEO, provided an overview of the initiative’s current state.
OGMP 2.0 now counts 157 member companies – a number that continues to grow week by week – representing approximately 45% of global oil and gas production. The framework is structured around five reporting levels, with levels four and five requiring direct measurement of emissions at the source and site level, respectively. OGMP 2.0 also serves as the basis for the EU Methane Regulation.
Companies moving through the levels often report an initial increase in disclosed emissions – not because they are emitting more, but because more accurate measurement reveals sources that were previously unaccounted for. As Hernandez Rivera explained, this is the first and necessary step toward actually fixing those leaks. Case studies from ConocoPhillips, Chenier, Petrobras, and ENI illustrated the diversity of this journey: some companies see emissions intensity temporarily rise before falling sharply, while others are able to fix issues in parallel with their measurement campaigns.
By the end of 2024, reported data showed that 88% of operated asset emissions among companies in their third or fourth year of reporting were based on measured data – a significant leap in data quality. Looking forward, IMEO projects that assets responsible for over 1,000 billion cubic metres of natural gas supply are on track to reach level five reporting by 2030, exceeding the total volume currently imported into the EU, China, Japan, and South Korea combined.
Despite this progress, a critical gap remains: 50% of the global oil and gas industry has yet to join OGMP at this level of detailed reporting.
The Investor Perspective: Engagement, Not Just Exclusion
Aaron McDougall from Amundi’s Investment Solutions team offered the investor perspective. Amundi, one of the world’s largest asset managers with approximately USD 2 trillion in assets under management, has been engaging with companies on methane as part of its broader responsible investment strategy. Last year alone, the firm engaged with nearly 3,000 individual companies on climate and ESG topics, and since OGMP’s inception, has encouraged hundreds of companies to join the initiative and move up through its reporting levels.
McDougall emphasised that effective engagement requires understanding the specific context of each company – its asset mix, geography, infrastructure age, and the regulatory environment it operates in. A concentrated asset like a single LNG terminal presents very different measurement challenges than a 5,000-kilometre transmission network spanning multiple countries.
From a financial standpoint, excessive methane leakage signals potential issues with asset integrity and operational efficiency – concerns that matter just as much to financial analysts as to climate advocates. As the discussion illustrated with a vivid analogy: a dairy farmer spilling 20% of their milk every day would rightly want to fix that.
A Conversation Just Getting Started
The webinar closed with a discussion on the limits of current data and the challenge of estimating emissions from the half of the industry that remains outside any structured reporting framework. While a global estimate of “what we’re missing” may be theoretically possible, panellists cautioned that it would carry significant uncertainty – a point that underscores the urgency of broader OGMP adoption.For the I-MER project and its partners, this event marks the beginning of a sustained research and engagement effort on investor perspectives. As Theodor Cojoianu, the webinar’s moderator, put it: “This is also a start of the conversation.” The team plans to continue building on these discussions, working with researchers and practitioners to deepen understanding of how financial markets can play a more active role in driving methane mitigation.
AGRIC – Advancing Photovoltaics in Agriculture was one of the projects that attended at the conference. The project aims to strengthen the adoption of Agrivoltaic solutions by building practical knowledge, institutional capacity and investment readiness in rural regions. It delivers targeted trainings for public authorities, farmers, advisors and investors, supported by training materials, demonstration farm videos and best-practice examples.
Over the course of EUKICON26, everyone who attended had the chance to join one of the many thematic workshops and panel discussions on contemporary topics, such as fostering a circular economy in an urban environment, battling climate change, industrial decarbonisation, sustainable energy solutions and more.
EUKICON26 featured two days of discussions on how climate action fits into the changing political landscape. The power of the EUKI community was evident during the course of the conference, demonstrating the real-world impact of its projects.
Turning Empty Spaces into Energy-Efficient and Affordable Homes
Miro spent two months searching for a rental apartment in Zagreb and described the experience as worse than in major global cities like London or Dubai in terms of affordability. Soaring rents, shrinking supply and sudden lease terminations are particularly affecting young families and students in Croatia.
These are not isolated cases, but clear signs that Europe is facing a severe housing crisis. The emergency became so evident that, in 2024, the European Commission appointed its first-ever Commissioner for Energy and Housing, Mr. Dan Jørgensen, who presented the long-awaited Affordable Housing Plan in December 2025, followed by a new package of measures in 2026.
Against this backdrop, many publicly funded initiatives are focusing on housing affordability. One of them is the recently launched Transforming Invisible Buildings (TIB), funded by EUKI.
From Zagreb to Athens, cities need data and strategies to tackle the housing crisis
By 2028, Transforming Invisible Buildings aims to address both energy efficiency and housing affordability by bringing vacant and underused buildings back into use. Rather than constructing new ones, we should first reactivate the 47.5 million vacant homes across the EU.
Through vacancy mapping, policy labs and capacity-building workshops, first implemented in the pilot capitals Zagreb, Ljubljana and Athens and later expanded to six additional cities, the project seeks to influence housing policies at both national and EU levels. Its goal is to integrate sufficiency principles into housing strategies and provide the scientific evidence needed to return underused buildings to the housing market.
Zagreb, Ljubljana and Athens offer strong testing grounds for vacancy mapping methodologies and advocacy approaches that could later be replicated across Europe. All three cities are heavily affected by the housing crisis and still lack comprehensive data that would support a clearer understanding of the housing situation.
According to data, electricity consumption data suggests that around 10,000 residential units in Ljubljana may be vacant. The local partner Institute for Innovation and Development of the University of Ljubljana (IRI UL) stresses that limited data availability and the absence of systematic policy tools prevent a clear understanding of the scale of underused housing. “Through TIB, IRI UL aims to help develop governance models and methodologies that can support the activation of vacant properties and better-informed policymaking”.
“Greece is one of the clearest examples in Europe of the coexistence of extensive vacant housing stock and severe housing affordability pressures,” says INZEB, the Greek project partner specialising in energy efficiency, innovative financing and energy poverty. According to the organisation, around 2.2–2.3 million dwellings across Greece are vacant or not used as primary residences. Through TIB, INZEB aims to contribute to a scalable framework for transforming inactive housing into affordable, energy-efficient homes.
In Croatia, the project partner Society for Sustainable Development Design (DOOR) points out the contradiction between the country’s high number of vacant homes and the growing housing affordability crisis. Vacant dwellings have increased by 149% over the past two decades, while the country faces a shortage of more than 236,000 affordable homes. Despite a strong political commitment and concrete initiatives to address the problem, DOOR notes that “the connection between vacancy reactivation and energy efficiency is still missing”. Through TIB, the organisation will work with the City of Zagreb to integrate at least one policy instrument linking vacant housing reactivation with energy efficiency requirements into the city’s framework by the end of the project.
Interested in learning more about the housing crisis and Transforming Invisible Buildings? If you are in Brussels from 9 to 12 June, visit the New European Bauhaus Festival and stop by our stand!
Panel Discussion on Biochar at ECOMED
The specialist audience, who were involved through presentations on their own work and in the discussion, consisted of professors from the Universities of Catania, Messina, Palermo and Turin, the President of the Catania Association of Agronomists, representatives of the Italian Biochar Association (ICHAR), start-ups, as well as Giacche Verdi Bronte (GV) and the Manfred-Hermsen-Stiftung (MHS).
EUKI project Cutting Carbon showed a video of a simple field pyrolyses biochar production and explained the promising climate impact of biochar: Biochar absorbs 2–3 times as much atmospheric carbon dioxide as was stored in the source material, e.g. tree cuttings.
One of the key points of the discussion was the debate on carbon credits and carbon farming. In both cases, the role of biochar was examined in depth as an essential element for achieving significant environmental, productive and economic results. The key points were clarified by Dr. Maria Rita Cammarata, a carbon neutrality consultant at the EU Agriculture Commission, and Susanna Di Vincenzo from the start-up 17 tons. Both agreed that the risk of greenwashing associated with the use of biochar must be avoided at all costs.
As a result of this event, we set up a working group with the various biochar experts for further exchange. Already the next event of this kind is planned in May at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Environment at the University of Catania. The visit to ECOMED was also a useful opportunity to get to know promising companies and talk to visitors.
From Strategy to Practice in Romania and the Czech Republic
Moving Beyond Isolated Measures: Building Functional Climate Systems
One of the most important lessons from ELCA is that climate governance does not work through isolated interventions. Training alone is not enough. Neither are individual pilot projects or policy papers. What is needed is an ecosystem in which knowledge, institutions, political support, and civic engagement reinforce each other. In both countries, this systemic approach was implemented deliberately, but in different ways. In Romania, the focus was on strengthening the connection between academia and public administration. In the Czech Republic, the emphasis was more community-oriented, rooted in local needs and post-disaster recovery processes. This included training local climate managers, developing detailed climate action plans for specific municipalities, and establishing a community climate support centre in Hodonin as a hub for ongoing collaboration and consultation. The approach also built on direct experience from post-tornado recovery. Despite these differences, both approaches demonstrate how tailored structures can lead to more resilient and actionable climate governance.
Training Climate Protection Managers: From Knowledge to Application
A central pillar of ELCA was the development of a structured training programme for climate protection managers, implemented in cooperation with GNE Witzenhausen. Over the course of more than a year, participants did not just acquire theoretical knowledge, they also worked as country teams on real cases. Topics including different climate mitigation and adaptation measures in energy transition, landscape planning, and climate communication were closely connected to real-world challenges faced by municipalities. For example, participants explored how to integrate blue-green infrastructure into urban planning, referred on local initial risk assessments and stronger stakeholder collaboration in politically sensitive contexts. The result is not just a group of trained individuals, but a network of professionals capable of acting as intermediaries – translating European climate goals into concrete municipal actions and aligning political, administrative, and technical perspectives. “As part of the lectures, we were introduced to a wide range of topics related to the management of adaptation measures, and at the same time connected with interesting practitioners. During the study visits, I found it very valuable to see examples of innovative solutions, ideally accompanied by expert commentary,” said Tereza Kleiner during the training. A landscape architect, she now works at the Department of Urban Development of the City of Hodonín. She completed the entire training programme and was also involved in the preparation of the climate action plan for Hodonín.
March 2025, ELCA´s project conference in Witzenhausen, featuring presentations and discussions of the country teams’ project work results. (Photo credit: GNE)
Institutional Anchoring: Creating Structures That Last
A key achievement of ELCA lies in the creation of institutional structures that extend beyond the project’s lifetime. In Romania, the Climate Action Support Center at the Politehnica University of Timișoara serves as a hub connecting research, education, and public administration. It is complemented by a Climate Council, which provides a structured platform for dialogue between scientists, policymakers, and civil society. This dual structure ensures that knowledge does not remain within academia but feeds directly into decision-making processes. In contrast, the Czech Republic developed the Community Climate Support Centre in Hodonín, a space designed for practical engagement. Its role became particularly relevant in the aftermath of the 2021 tornado, where climate protection is not an abstract concept but part of rebuilding efforts. Here, discussions about landscape restructuring, wind erosion protection and resilient infrastructure are directly linked to lived experience. Together, these two models – one academically anchored, the other community-driven – illustrate how institutional diversity can strengthen local climate governance.
May 2025, UPT presents a comprehensive model of ELCA’s climate action strategy and the role of the Romanian Community Support Center (SCCA) in stakeholder collaboration. (Photo credit: UPT)
From Analysis to Action: Climate Plans and Pilot Measures
ELCA placed strong emphasis on turning analysis into implementation and showed how abstract climate risks can be operationalized into tangible local actions. In several municipalities, climate action plans were developed based on detailed risk assessments. These did not remain generic documents but addressed very specific local challenges such as prolonged drought periods, urban heat islands, flood risks and wind erosion in agricultural landscapes. These risks were translated into concrete, implementable measures. Examples include blue-green infrastructure, integrating vegetation and water systems into urban planning; Urban rainwater management systems, designed to reduce runoff and increase water retention; Energy efficiency measures, particularly aimed at reducing energy losses and heat stress in built environments; Landscape interventions, or the integration of nature-based solutions into spatial planning processes, such as tree rows, wetlands, retention zones and windbreaks to stabilize ecosystems. In the Czech Republic, this approach was applied in municipalities such as Hodonín, Moravská Nová Ves and Prušánky, where the plans served as practical guidance for post-disaster recovery and long-term landscape resilience.
By 2025, three climate action plans for municipalities in South Moravia had been completed. (Photo credit: PIN)
Participation and Co-Creation: Building Ownership
Another key factor for success was the consistent involvement of local stakeholders. Rather than presenting finished solutions, ELCA relied on dialogue formats: workshops with municipal staff, exchanges with experts, and participatory processes involving citizens. This approach helped to align technical solutions with local realities and increased acceptance of proposed measures. In practice, this meant addressing concrete questions: How can a municipality prioritize limited resources? Which measures are politically feasible? How can citizens be involved in implementation? Students were also actively engaged, contributing to real-world tasks and gaining hands-on experience. This not only supported the project but also helped train the next generation of climate professionals.
Participatory workshops and citizen dialogue, during the Climate Days Hodonín Conference in June 2025 (Photo credit: PIN)
Challenges: Structural Limits to Implementation
At the same time, the project revealed clear structural challenges. Political changes disrupted continuity in some cases. In Timisoara, limited administrative capacity and a shortage of qualified staff slowed down implementation processes. In addition, climate action often competes with other urgent local priorities. There are also societal barriers – ranging from low awareness to skepticism towards new approaches. Institutional frameworks can further complicate the integration of innovative measures. These challenges underline a key point: climate governance requires long-term investment – not only in infrastructure, but in people, institutions, and processes.
International Exchange and Visibility
ELCA was actively embedded in international scientific and policy discussions. UPT presented project results at conferences such as TerraEnVision, EGU, ECCA, and MedGU, and shared in exchange formats reaching as far as Asia and the United States. This international engagement not only increased visibility but also helped refine approaches through external feedback and comparison with other regions.
ELCA project partners also networked at the TERRAenVISION Conference 2025, an international scientific conference series focused on Nature-Based Solutions (NBS) and the sustainable transformation of landscapes, cities, and ecosystems. (Photo credit: ELCA)
Outlook: From Project Results to Structural Change
With the project completed, the foundations are in place – but the real work continues. The challenge now is to translate project outcomes into long-term strategies and routines. This includes Scaling up nature-based solutions; Integrating climate action into municipal planning processes; Maintaining and expanding cooperation networks and further developing participatory approaches.
Conclusion
ELCA demonstrates that effective climate governance is not defined by individual measures, but by the interaction of knowledge, institutions, and people. By combining training, institutional development, and practical implementation, the project offers a transferable model for other regions in Europe. Most importantly, it shows that climate action becomes impactful when it is locally rooted, institutionally supported, and collectively shaped.
Thank you to all ELCA participants and stakeholders for the great collaboration and inspiring journey throughout the project – keep on doing your great work! (Photo credit: GNE)
AGRIC Kick-off Conference in Germany
The meeting started with an introduction of each project partner. The morning session focused mainly on the project’s content-related topics, with particular attention given to the Train-the-Trainer guideline, which is to be developed as part of the project. The Train-the-Trainer programme aims to systematically build and share knowledge about Agri-PV. In each of the project partners’ regions, two trainers are to be trained. They will then be able to pass on the knowledge they have gained to various target groups in their regions, informing them about the opportunities, basic principles and possible applications of Agri-PV. In a subsequent workshop, the key questions related to this topic were discussed in small groups, and the results were then presented to all participants.
During the working day, a Financial Management session was organised, in which the entire process of financial implementation was explored among the participants.
AGRIC Kick-off exercise, photo and copyright by Georgi Simeonov
The next part of the meeting was dedicated to the project’s Communication session, with a special focus on activities that will be carried out throughout the project’s duration. The communication coordinator of the AGRIC project explained that the communication objectives aim to foster collaboration among partners and involved stakeholders. In addition, all communication rules were presented alongside several useful pieces of advice on how partners can contribute to the project’s visibility and dissemination.
AGRIC Communication session, photo and copyright by Georgi Simeonov
The Kick-off event concluded with a status update by each partner and an open discussion focusing on the next planned steps within the frame of the project implementation.
Overall, very positive results were achieved. The meeting helped all participants develop a stronger shared understanding of the project’s content, as well as of the financial and communication-related framework conditions.
AGRIC Train-the-Trainer brainstorming, photo and copyright by Georgi Simeonov
More about AGRIC Project:
The “AGRIC – Advancing Agri-PV Readiness and Cooperation” project directly strengthens the institutional capacity and investment readiness for adopting Agri-PV solutions in Bulgaria, Germany, Lithuania, Poland and Serbia. To achieve this, AGRIC delivers dedicated trainings, disseminates best practices through training materials and demonstration farm videos, a funding guide and an interactive impact assessment tool, as well as policy recommendations. Building on these activities, AGRIC aims to showcase the benefits and opportunities of integrating Agri-PV as a dual-land use solution in the agricultural sector.
AGRIC Train-the-Trainer key takeaways, photo and copyright by Georgi Simeonov
The activities of the project are related to fostering awareness of climate resilience in the agricultural sector and accelerating the energy transition in rural regions through cross-regional learning.
Biochar production: This pyrolysis workshop, led by Gino Montagno (Giacche Verdi Bronte), took place in bad weather and could not be held in the field as planned, serving as a practical example of tree pruning waste utilisation in a soil ‘Kontiki’. We limited ourselves to using our mini pyrolysis kiln, on which the process and the principles to be observed were explained. In addition to our guests from the Balkans, representatives from the agricultural sector and the Cooperativa Sociale Iride took part, the latter accompanied by refugees under their care who are undergoing training as agricultural assistants.
Participating farmer Marco Meli invited us to visit his organic pistachio grove, where he plans to produce and apply biochar in future.
Green roof construction using biochar: The building contractor Maurizio Minissale, who had consulted with us in the run-up to this project the Catania University’s green roof and had trialled the construction of the first biochar green roofs on private land, guided the guests from the Balkans through the process of building one themselves. The result was a clear, illustrative model roof featuring various biochar substrates, located at Giacche Verdi’s starting point for environmental education excursions.
Urban tree planting with biochar: With the assistance of the “Corpo Forestale Bronte” (forest department), an Ilex aquifolium was planted in front of their headquarters using biochar. A sign explains how biochar works, it`s climate effect and the benefits of urban greenery.
Bronte’s biochar conference at the Pinacoteca Sciavarello, attended by the mayor Senator Pino Firarello, was aimed at around 100 guests from the political, institutional and agricultural sectors, as well as 60 surveying and engineering students. Andrea Aidala from Giacche Verdi and the moderator Giggi Saitta from the “Terre della Biosfera” association provided information about the EUKI project. Giuseppe Gagliano, an engineer from ICHAR (the Italian Biochar Association), gave a comprehensive description of the properties and effectiveness of biochar in mitigating climate change and as a soil improver. Prof. Paolo Guarnaccia from the Faculty of Agriculture at the University of Catania and Stefanie Hermsen from the Manfred Hermsen Foundation made a case for regenerative agriculture and the need to avoid the use of pesticides when applying biochar. The structural engineer Massimo Longhitano raised the question of whether biochar-based green roofs could be combined with solar panels. The key addressee was the MP and member of the Agriculture Committee in the Italian Parliament, On. Giuseppe Castiglione, who in his speech recognised biochar as an innovation and outlined a vision for a region of excellence in Bronte – pistachio cultivation using biochar. This idea was also taken up by our German guest, Dr Eick von Ruschkowski, Director of the Alfred Töpfer Institute, who brought our long-standing project for a biosphere reserve in the Etna area to the fore.
Raising the Bar: A Database of Emerging Good Practices in Sustainability Reporting
What the Database Offers
Drawing on annual reports, the database showcases disclosure examples from companies that are setting a high bar for transparency on:
– Climate transition plans, risk assessments and greenhouse gas accounting – Double materiality assessments – Identification and management of material impacts, risks and opportunities – Sustainability due diligence and governance-related disclosures
Each entry in the database is accompanied by expert commentary from Frank Bold’s team, explaining what makes the disclosure effective and where to find the relevant information within the source report. Users can filter by topic, country and sector, making it easy to find examples that are most relevant to a company’s own context.
Why This Matters for Companies in the CEE Region
Through the Company Climate Transition project, we have seen firsthand that companies in Poland, Czechia, Slovakia, Romania and Bulgaria are genuinely committed to improving their sustainability performance — but many feel uncertain about whether their disclosures meet the standard expected under the EU Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive and the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS).
Last year, EU policy-makers drastically modified the scope of the reporting legislation as part of the Omnibus 1 Simplification package. Yet reducing the number of companies covered does not diminish the underlying need for this information — if anything, that need is intensifying. Europe’s drive toward net zero, its effort to reduce fossil fuel dependence, and the imperative to secure critical supply chains are, at their core, sustainability questions. Understanding where a company is exposed to energy price volatility, raw material scarcity, or labour exploitation in distant supply chains is not a compliance exercise. It is strategic intelligence.
Business and financial associations in Poland have just come out in March with a recommendation for large companies to continue reporting voluntarily according to the simplified ESRS.
Previous research by Frank Bold showed that while CEE companies have made significant progress — particularly on GHG reporting — there remain gaps in areas such as detailed climate transition planning and value chain due diligence. Seeing how peers and sector leaders approach these topics can provide the kind of concrete reference points that guidance documents alone cannot offer. Frank Bold’s database is build on three key principles:
– The prioritisation of information – focusing on quality over quantity – Transparency and honesty about progress – A focus on the most critical aspects of companies’ exposure to risks and impacts
Decision-useful and transparent sustainability information signals to the market that a company genuinely understands its risks and opportunities — and has a credible strategy to address them. Whether a company is preparing its first CSRD-aligned report or refining an established process, this database offers a practical and freely accessible starting point.
A Living Resource
The database is designed to evolve alongside the reporting landscape. Frank Bold will continue to update it with assessments of newly released sustainability reports, so it remains a relevant and current reference for companies navigating ongoing CSRD implementation.
Access to the database is free. Register to explore the examples on Frank Bold’s website.
This database was developed as part of the EUKI Company Climate Transition project, which supports companies in Poland, Czechia, Slovakia, Romania and Bulgaria to implement effective climate transition plans and meet EU sustainability requirements.
Strengthening Regional Cooperation on Decarbonisation in the Western Balkans
The conference was organised within the Green Kick project, implemented by the Centre for Development and Support (CRP) from Bosnia and Herzegovina, in partnership with Smart Kolektiv from Serbia and FORS Montenegro – Foundation for the Development of Northern Montenegro.
From Planning to Implementation: Advancing Local Climate Action
The first day of the conference focused on presenting key project results and fostering dialogue on the development and implementation of local climate policies. A central highlight was the presentation of the analysis of 16 Sustainable Energy and Climate Action Plans (SECAPs) from across the region, providing valuable insights into current progress, challenges, and opportunities.
During the panel discussion on the experiences of joint SECAP teams composed of local self-government units and CSOs, participants exchanged practical knowledge and reflected on common challenges such as data availability and institutional capacities. At the same time, the discussion highlighted encouraging trends, including increasing local initiative and growing commitment to climate action.
A second panel explored perspectives for strengthening cooperation between local governments and civil society, emphasising the importance of cross-sector collaboration. Contributions from private sector representatives further enriched the discussion, showcasing diverse approaches and opportunities within the green transition.
The first day concluded with a clear message: decarbonisation efforts in the region are increasingly moving from the planning phase to concrete implementation.
Showcasing Local Solutions and Defining Next Steps
The second day of the conference shifted focus towards practical solutions, successful initiatives, and future steps in advancing local green transition processes.
Participants were introduced to a range of local green solutions and SECAP pilot projects from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, and Serbia. These included innovative examples such as solar-powered installations, smart urban equipment, and energy efficiency programmes implemented at the local level. Additionally, representatives of the Ministry of Spatial Planning and Environmental Protection of Tuzla Canton presented ongoing programmes supporting the renovation of public buildings and co-financing measures for citizens.
Further sessions highlighted successful projects led by CSOs and local authorities, demonstrating tangible results already achieved in practice and reinforcing the importance of collaborative approaches.
The conference concluded with an interactive workshop dedicated to improving cooperation between local governments and CSOs. Through group work, participants formulated concrete recommendations, including the need to:
establish continuous and structured cooperation mechanisms,
strengthen partnerships in project preparation and implementation, including access to financing,
actively involve citizens, the private sector, and other stakeholders,
promote knowledge exchange through joint campaigns, training, and events,
prioritise practical local measures such as energy communities, information centres, and co-financing programmes.
The final conclusion of the conference underscored that effective decarbonisation requires sustained, structured cooperation and a strong focus on implementation.
Strengthening Regional Cooperation for Climate Action
The Green Kick conference confirmed the importance of regional cooperation and multi-stakeholder engagement in addressing climate challenges in the Western Balkans. The presence of EUKI representative Martin Vallejo further emphasised the relevance of such initiatives and the continued support for collaborative climate action in the region.
The event concluded with a certificate award ceremony, joint reflections, and a shared commitment to strengthening cooperation and accelerating decarbonisation efforts across Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, and Serbia.
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