Increase the uptake of Best Available Techniques in accordance with the Industrial Emissions Directive

ROADMAP PROGRESS

According to the 2025 GARI, progress on increasing the uptake of Best Available Techniques (BAT) in line with the Industrial Emissions Directive (IED) remained limited in 2025, with legislative developments in some WB6 outpacing the capacity to implement and enforce BAT-based permitting. The revised IED 2.0 (Directive 2024/1785/EU) entered into force on 4 August 2024. North Macedonia adopted a Law on Industrial Emissions and amended the Law on Environment during the reporting period. Serbia retains the most developed industrial permitting framework in the region: the EUR 215 million desulphurisation system at Termoelektrane Nikola Tesla (TENT) A3–A6, commissioned in April 2024, contributed to a 30.4% reduction in SO₂ emissions from NERP plants in 2024 and a further 11.5% reduction in 2025, to 177,924 tonnes, though this remains 4.6 times the permitted level, while the TENT B facility was 91% complete at year-end. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, SO₂ emissions from NERP plants rose by 17.1% in 2024 to 212,905 tonnes, 11.3 times the permitted level and the highest in the region, and the Ugljevik desulphurisation unit has yet to be brought into consistent operation. Kosovo* remains approximately 90% dependent on coal, with emissions significantly above BAT-associated thresholds. Montenegro operates a single large combustion plant at Pljevlja, currently undergoing ecological reconstruction. Albania has made limited transposition progress. The full entry into force of CBAM financial obligations from 1 January 2026, together with the 2027 NERP compliance deadline, is expected to accelerate BAT uptake across the region.

Note: Action 37a of the first Green Agenda Action Plan (2021–2030) is retained in the Revised Action Plan (2025–2030) as Action 24, which focuses on transposing the Industrial Emissions Directive and increasing the application of Best Available Techniques in industrial installations and large combustion plants.