Public Participation in the Updated National Energy and Climate Plans (NECPs)

The document evaluates how CEE countries have integrated public consultation and multilevel climate and energy dialogues (MCEDs) into their updated NECPs, finding significant variability in quality and frequent failures to meet European law requirements for early and inclusive engagement.

• The European Commission's December 2023 assessment of draft updated NECPs found that 'ambition gaps remain to achieve the new climate and energy targets for 2030' and that the overall process fell below expectations, specifically noting that 'the quality of the consultation processes varied greatly'.
• Public participation in the CEE region is often insufficient, with several countries failing to publish drafts before consultations or providing inadequate timeframes for response. For example, Hungary's consultation was open for only two weeks, and Czechia's three-week window was questioned by the EC as potentially insufficient.
• Lithuania and Slovenia are identified as best practice examples in the CEE region. Lithuania is noted for identifying a wide range of stakeholders and forming eight Working Groups (five on decarbonisation and three on energy), while Slovenia is praised for its dedicated NECP portal and early, inclusive participation.
• Several CEE countries showed critical failures in the public participation process: Latvia and Poland lacked evidence of dialogues before submission, and Romania held its public consultation only after submitting the updated draft to the Commission.
• There is a widespread failure among Member States to provide summaries of how public opinions were addressed in the final plans, a requirement of the EU Commission. Estonia is highlighted as an exception for including a 'very clear summary' of how institutional stakeholder views were considered.
• The document argues that meaningful public engagement is essential for the CEE region to manage the 'profound transformations' required for net zero, including phasing out coal and deploying clean technologies like carbon capture and storage (CCS) and small modular reactors (SMRs), to ensure social fairness and a 'just transition'.

APA

Castañer, A. M., Martin, M., Albares, S., & Lagurashvili, T. (2024). Public Participation in the Updated National Energy and Climate Plans (NECPs). Clean Air Task Force. https://cdn.catf.us/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/09051939/CATF-Public-Participation-in-NECPs-Policy-Brief-March-2024.pdf

Chicago

Castañer, Alejandra Muñoz, Marilen Martin, Sara Albares, and Tamara Lagurashvili. Public Participation in the Updated National Energy and Climate Plans (NECPs). Clean Air Task Force, 2024. https://cdn.catf.us/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/09051939/CATF-Public-Participation-in-NECPs-Policy-Brief-March-2024.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Castañer |first1=Alejandra Muñoz |last2=Martin |first2=Marilen |last3=Albares |first3=Sara |last4=Lagurashvili |first4=Tamara |title=Public Participation in the Updated National Energy and Climate Plans (NECPs) |publisher=Clean Air Task Force |date=April 2024 |url=https://cdn.catf.us/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/09051939/CATF-Public-Participation-in-NECPs-Policy-Brief-March-2024.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{castaer2024public, author = {Castañer, Alejandra Muñoz and Martin, Marilen and Albares, Sara and Lagurashvili, Tamara}, title = {{Public Participation in the Updated National Energy and Climate Plans (NECPs)}}, institution = {Clean Air Task Force}, year = {2024}, month = apr, url = {https://cdn.catf.us/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/09051939/CATF-Public-Participation-in-NECPs-Policy-Brief-March-2024.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }