Project objective
To enhance awareness, coordination, and replication of sustainable public transport solutions powered by renewable energy sources (RES) across four Balkan partner countries—North Macedonia, Croatia, Slovenia, and Montenegro—by establishing a structured framework for municipal collaboration, strengthening technical capacities, and fostering public engagement. The objective is to support municipalities in the effective transition to clean mobility solutions while ensuring their long-term sustainability, scalability, and transferability across the region.
Background
Countries in the Western Balkans have committed to climate neutrality by 2050 and align their transport and energy policies with the European Union’s “Fit for 55” targets. Yet many municipalities remain in the early stages of developing sustainable mobility strategies and lack integration between renewable energy expansion and transport planning. National climate frameworks across Croatia, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Slovenia highlight strong renewable energy and transport decarbonisation goals, but municipal implementation lags behind due to funding gaps, limited expertise and insufficient coordination. Electric buses are increasingly deployed, but they often rely on fossil-heavy electricity grids, reducing their climate benefits. The project supports national efforts such as Croatia’s Low-Carbon Development Strategy, Montenegro’s National Energy and Climate Plan, North Macedonia’s coal phase-out pathway and Slovenia’s photovoltaic expansion targets. By creating renewable-integrated mobility plans, the project strengthens municipal contributions to national and EU climate policies.
Implementation
The project develops renewable-powered transport solutions in four Western Balkan municipalities by integrating solar energy into Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans. The team prepares feasibility studies, designs photovoltaic-based charging concepts and creates data-driven mobility plans for Strumica (North Macedonia), Umag (Croatia), Ptuj (Slovenia) and Cetinje (Montenegro). Together with local authorities, transport operators and energy experts, the project links electrified urban mobility deployment with renewable energy supply, ensuring cleaner and more efficient public transport. The project trains municipal staff, identifies suitable sites for photovoltaic installations and develops investment roadmaps to overcome financial barriers. Through policy recommendations, it encourages national governments to introduce incentives that support renewable-powered transport. Awareness campaigns and workshops engage the wider public, while digital dashboards visualise emissions reductions and renewable energy use. With this combination of planning, technical design and stakeholder engagement, the project strengthens municipal capacity and creates a transferable model for renewable-integrated mobility across the Western Balkans.
SDEWES Centre is the lead partner (Implementing organisation) of this project which includes other 3 partners from totally 4 countries in the Southeast Europe:
1. Centre for Research and Analysis, NOVUS – Strumica - North Macedonia (MK)
2. Local energy agency Spodnje Podravje - Slovenia (SI)
3. University of Montenegro - Montenegro (ME)
This project is part of the European Climate Initiative (EUKI). EUKI is a project financing instrument by the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Climate Action, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMUKN). The EUKI call for project ideas is implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH. It is the overarching goal of the EUKI to foster climate cooperation within the European Union (EU) in order to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions.
