The Energy Community Secretariat and OSF-WB are joining forces to accelerate a just green transition in the Western Balkans, launching a Center for Renewables Acceleration.

Through this partnership, the Energy Community Secretariat and OSF–WB will support Western Balkan Contracting Parties in advancing renewable energy development while ensuring that environmental protection remains central to the transition.

OSF-WB will support the Energy Community Secretariat in operating a new Centre for Renewables Acceleration. This regional hub provides technical support to Energy Community Contracting Parties in the Western Balkans to accelerate renewable energy deployment through improved planning and coordination. Central to the Centre’s work, strengthening public trust in the energy transition, focusing particularly on regions affected by coal phase-out and broader structural change. The centre will help support rollout of Renewables Acceleration Areas in brownfields including coal mines, where projects can move forward more quickly through streamlined procedures grounded in strategic spatial planning that protects sensitive ecosystems while accelerating clean energy deployment.

The Energy Community Secretariat and the Open Society Foundations – Western Balkans (OSF-WB) recently formalised their cooperation through a Memorandum of Understanding. The partnership will roll out concrete action across the region through pilot interventions in Contracting Parties, expert exchanges, capacity-building initiatives and regional workshops.