The awareness of the population has since evolved significantly, although the people still fail to recognise most of the benefits of energy efficiency, primarily due to the low price of dirty energy, low living standards and a lack of incentives and adequate legislation.
Progress has been achieved with the adoption of the Green Agenda for the Western Balkans, with which the transition f rom a traditional economic model to a sustainable economy has been encouraged. With the signing of this document, the countries of the region, including Bosnia & Herzegovina, committed themselves to working towards Europe becoming climate neutral by 2050, while an additional incentive was created when the country achieved EU membership candidate status in December 2022, implying alignment with EU norms in all areas, including sustainability.
The first steps in this direction should be the resolving of the problems of the country’s two biggest air polluters – the Kakanj Power Station and the Mittal steel plant in Zenica – for which it will receive assistance from its European partners.
