CEE Climate Policy Frontier

Climate action within the transport and building sectors in the CEE region lags behind that of European frontrunners and behind the overall pace of emissions reduction compatible with the Paris Agreement. Within the region, there are also significant differences in the effectiveness and efficiency of countries’ policy instruments, in terms of both their design and implementation. While knowledge exchange between the CEE countries and the rest of the EU is crucial for solving the climate challenge, the experiences gained by the latter group are often not fully transferable or applicable due to the different socio-economic contexts, institutional differences or historical development pathways. It is therefore necessary to strengthen knowledge exchange within the CEE region. On top of this, the scale and pace of climate action required if the buildings and transport sectors are to stay within the global carbon budget are still not fully recognised. Without both increasing the intra-CEE exchange of current best practices and supporting joint European reflection on further improvements in sectoral policies, there is a risk that progress in this area continues to be piecemeal.

The project facilitated the promotion of best practices for climate action in the selected non-ETS sectors of transport and buildings. It did so by raising national policy-makers’ awareness of the readily-available and transferable solutions already present in the region. Additionally, it fostered discussion on implementation strategies that can enable the region to efficiently reduce emissions from these sectors with the aim of achieving emissions pathways that are compatible with the Paris Agreement.

The project’s goals were achieved over several stages. First, the project identified and promoted current best policy practices within the CEE region. Second, it assessed the gap between these best practices and the level of ambition necessary to ensure global warming remains well below 2°C/1.5°C. Finally, policy options needed to bridge this gap were identified and promoted.

The project’s outcomes supported policy-makers in all beneficiary CEE countries to reach the ‘regional frontier of excellence’ in climate action, while also making this action consistent with the level of ambition required to limit global warming to well below 2°C. Although the project focused on the Central and Eastern European region, it also created a channel for knowledge exchange between the CEE countries and other European states.

• Cross-border awareness-raising: The project was able to more firmly embed climate change mitigation and adaptation in the building and transport sectors in six Central and Eastern European countries.
• Best practice examples as inspiration: In workshops with politicians and experts, nine successful policy examples in areas such as climate-neutral mobility and buildings were presented, e.g. the Swedish "ElectiCity Partnership". Together, they worked out how these examples can be transferred to Central and Eastern Europe in order to prepare for the impacts of the upcoming Emissions Trading System for buildings and transport (ETS 2).
• A solid foundation, with more to come: The dialogue between Eastern and Western European stakeholders led to a transfer of knowledge, created a basis of trust for future contacts, and promoted the political connectivity of the Eastern European partners – an important foundation for more ambitious emissions reductions in the region.