Policies and measures to address climate change in Central and Eastern European Countries

Pursuant to the commitments under the Framework Convention of Climate Change (FCCC), all Annex I Parties of FCCC have compiled their National Communications on Climate Change. There, Parties have reported the national greenhouse gas inventories, policies, and measures to address climate change, the greenhouse gas emissions projections, vulnerability and adaptation to climate change, and education and public awareness. Implementation of policies and measures to address climate change in economies in transition (EIT) is very complicated due to the experienced deep economic crisis. It is important to outline the efforts of EIT countries to identify their climate change policy and to recognize the most effective policies and measures achieved under these countries' special circumstances. This paper compiles information from the policies and measures section of the National Communications of nine EIT countries. The analysis has been carried out in the framework of overall policy context and the national circumstances of EIT countries in terms of energy and economy development. In general, policies and measures in EIT countries tend to follow the trends observed in the other Annex I Parties to the FCCC. They address primarily carbon dioxide from fossil fuel combustion as the most important greenhouse gas and the energy transformation sector as the major greenhouse emissions source. The most effective mitigation measures -- in terms of both greenhouse gas emission reduction and costs -- were energy efficiency and the promotion of non-fossil energy sources. A prevailing part of policies and measures implemented or under implementation in EIT countries were cost-effective and no-regret measures. It was considered very difficult in these countries to go beyond no-regret measures in a situation of deep economic crisis and insufficient investments.