The Republic of Albania is a signatory Party of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). In line with UNFCCC guidelines, Albania prepared a document outlining the actions it planned to undertake to address climate change, also known as Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC), in 2015. Albania signed the Paris Agreement, the most ambitious multilateral climate change agreement, in April 2016. To achieve its objective, all Parties to this agreement are expected to update and enhance their NDC every 5 years.

UNDP has agreed Climate Promise workplans with 118 countries making it the world’s largest offer of support for the enhancement of countries’ climate pledges. Albania is also one of the recipient countries.  A revised NDC has been drafted in a collaborative manner by Albanian institutions, led by the Ministry of Tourism and Environment, UNDP and international consultants.

Albania’s greenhouse gas (GHG) mean annual emissions, according to the national inventory prepared for the 1^st Biennial Update Report (BUR), amounted to 10.8 Mt CO₂e/y in the period 2009-2016. Compared to the rest of Europe, this level of emission is low. While the level of emissions per inhabitation is 8.7 t CO₂e/hab in the EU-27 in 2018, the mean level of emission per capita in Albania is 3.5 t CO₂e/hab in 2016.

The NDC relies on the comparison between a Business as Usual scenario (BAU) and a mitigate scenario considering mitigation measures so-called the NDC scenario. Projections rely on macro-economic assumptions such as GDP and population forecast but also on historical trends, strategies and plans as endorsed at national level.

Albania aims to reduce emissions relative to business-as-usual by 2030, with the implementation of mitigation actions in the main emitting sectors of the economy: Energy, Agriculture, Waste and land-use, land-use change and forestry (LULUCF).The inclusion of Agriculture, Waste and LULUCF are an enhancement since the first NDC only covered Energy.

Considering all sectors, emissions for the NDC scenario (with mitigation measures) increase from 10,139 kt CO₂e in 2016 to 11,978 kt CO₂e in 2030, which represents an increase of +18.1%.The difference, in 2030, with the BAU scenario, is -3,170 kt CO₂e, which represents a mitigation impact of -20.9%.

Overall, the mitigation actions accounted in the NDC scenario could help avoid, in total during the period 2021-2030, 16,828 kt CO₂e compared to the BAU scenario. This is the cumulative effect of the emissions reduction between NDC scenario and BAU scenario.

Some of the mitigation measures in the energy sector are:

·         Efficient transport system:
Increasing the share of public transport for passengers and freight (roads, railways and waterways). Up to 2030, 30% of the road transport of over 300 km shall be shifted to other transport modalities, like the rail. Up to 2050 the goal to be achieved is 50%.
Energy labelling of new vehicles.

·         Improving the energy performance in buildings:
Renovation of public building stock each year by 2% of the heated /cooled area for buildings that are under administration of, or used by a public authority, or provide a public service, with a view to meeting the minimum energy performance requirements.

·         Reduction of transmission and distribution losses by promotion of distributed generation.

·         Reduction of emissions from industries based on energy efficiency.

·         Transition process towards diversification away from hydropower and promote alternative sources of renewable energy:
By 2030, 42 % of renewable energy in gross final energy consumption.

·         Renewable energy sources in transport:
Goal for the share of the biofuels vs. total fuel consumption in transport sector 10% in 2030 as compared to 3.55% in 2015.

·         The share of electrical vehicles (EV) is increasing in the passenger cars fleet (up to 10% of passenger.km in 2030).

·         Bicycle as Passenger travel mode is increasing (up to 5% of passenger.km in 2030).

The revised NDC includes also climate change adaptation measures and an aim at mainstreaming climate change adaptation into relevant development and sectoral strategies (this will represent an enhancement in terms of increased geographic and sectoral coverage (including new sectors, while the initial NDC did not include an adaptation component).

As per the plan, the revised NDC, the National GHG Inventory Report and the First Biennial Update Report on Climate Change will be submitted to the UNFCCC in 2021, well ahead of the COP 26 (November 2021).