Policy recommendation for Central and Eastern European (CEE) municipalities.

Developed within the H2020 CEESEU project, this document derives from experiences accrued during the Horizon-funded CEESEU project (2020-2023), delivered in eight Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries (HR, SI, CZ, PL, HU, RO, LV, EE) and targeting 22 smaller municipalities (including 2 bundled SECAPs) in these countries.

Originally three separate deliverables, these are combined into one here, starting with the barriers encountered in the SECAPs’ initial preparation and implementation phases, focusing on four primary aspects and recommending solutions to contend with these: (i) decision making structures and governance, (ii) human resources and expertise, (iii) budget restrictions, and (iv) stakeholder engagement.

The second part of this document takes on (iii) above, focusing on how to improve financing mechanisms for CEE municipalities. Financing is, of course, the primary constraint for implementation of SECAP actions, whether mitigation or adaptation, and not geographically limited to only the CEE region.

In the final section the focus is more at the macro level, bringing to the fore a set of recommendations proposed to both the EU and to the CoM on ways by which these institutions can better support CEE municipalities to meet their emission reduction and climate adaptation goals.