Governance and National Energy and Climate Plans

The Governance Regulation in the Energy Community requires Contracting Parties to develop integrated National Energy and Climate Plans (NECPs). The NECPs include national objectives and targets and respective policies and measures for all five dimensions of the Energy Union, which are closely related and mutually reinforcing, namely:

• decarbonisation (including renewable energy);
• energy efficiency;
• energy security;
• internal energy market; and
• research, innovation and competitiveness.
   

The mandatory structure and the content of the NECPs is outlined in Annex I of the Governance Regulation and includes the following:

• Overview and process for establishing the Plan
• National objectives and targets;
• Policies and measures;
• Current situation and projections with existing policies and measures;
• Impact assessment of planned policies and measures.

In their NECPs, Contracting Parties need to compare how their energy system and their greenhouse gas emissions will develop under existing and under new policies and measures. The underlying assessment requires robust modelling capacity and can benefit from regional coordination.

When preparing their NECPs, Contracting Parties should undertake public consultations, establish a multilevel climate and energy dialogues and cooperate with each other and with Member States of the European Union.

The Governance Regulation lays out the schedule for submitting the draft and the adopted NECPs to the Energy Community Secretariat, as well as for submitting NECP Updates and Integrated Progress Reports. Ahead of the respective deadlines, Contracting Parties are invited to share preliminary drafts or draft chapters of the NECPs with the Energy Community Secretariat for informal comments.