Energy Community Secretariat calls for credible reforms to make just transition bankable at UN energy forum 

At IFESD-14, Secretariat Director Artur Lorkowski highlighted electricity market integration, carbon pricing, and National Energy and Climate Plans as pillars of a fair, financeable transition.     

Speaking at the United Nations’ 14th International Forum on Energy for Sustainable Development (IFESD-14) in Skopje, North Macedonia, Energy Community Secretariat Director Artur Lorkowski called for credible reforms to attract the scale of investment needed to secure the clean energy transition across the Energy Community’s Contracting Parties in South East and Eastern Europe. 

The forum convened governments, international organizations, and financial institutions from across Europe, Central Asia, and other UN regions to translate global clean-energy goals into measurable progress toward ensuring access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all (SDG 7). 

“The Energy Community provides the foundation for building an inclusive and sustainable energy future in the region," Lorkowski affirmed. “We provide the legal, policy, and cooperative foundation that enables the climate transition to take root, investments to flow, and climate ambition to translate into measurable progress.”  

Progress is already underway across the region, as highlighted in the Secretariat’s 2025 CBAM Readiness Tracker, which demonstrates how Energy Community Contracting Parties are transforming alignment with the EU’s climate framework into a driver of integration and decarbonization. Lorkowski emphasised that to sustain this momentum, reforms must remain anchored in law, supported by institutions, and trusted by investors — ensuring the just transition becomes both financeable in practice and measurable in its results.  He highlighted that the Energy Community’s framework — which enables electricity market integration ahead of EU accession, supports the coordination of carbon pricing, and assists governments in developing National Energy and Climate Plans (NECPs) — provides the governance and market conditions needed to build trust among investors. This, he noted, is essential to sustaining the clean energy transition already underway in the region.  

Underscoring that the success of the transition will be measured by how widely its benefits are shared, Lorkowski announced that a new Energy Community study provides the first regional blueprint for tackling energy poverty through deep building renovation and the Energy Efficiency First principle. The study finds that such renovations could cut household energy demand by over 60 percent and create up to nineteen jobs for every million euros invested. Meanwhile, the Secretariat's recently published Just Transition Policy Guidelines provide Contracting Parties with the necessary support to plan for a just and sustainable transition on a national level. 

Building on this momentum, the Energy Community Secretariat will continue driving regional cooperation and reform implementation to secure a fair, decarbonised, and integrated energy future.