UNEP is working with the Climate Technology and Transfer Network (CTCN) and Bosnian city of Banja Luka to modernise its district heating system and save 80,000 tonnes of CO2 a year as well as energy and water.

One third of consumers in the city are currently at risk of being under-heated for the upcoming cold season due to the inefficient heating system. The modernisation is expected to prevent households and businesses from switching to other less environmentally-friendly energy sources, which would also severely hamper business for the district heating utility.

The transition to a modern system is a major priority for Bosnia and Herzegovina and for the city of Banja Luka in particular, since it hosts the country’s second largest such structure, responsible for significant water, heat and energy losses. District heating is one of the biggest sources of GHG emissions in the country.

The project has the aim of “generating conditions that will allow sustainable development, especially regarding the distribution and consumption of heating energy,” said Slobodan Gavranović, Mayor of Banja Luka, which is a pilot city of UNEP’s Global District Energy in Cities Initiative.

With UNEP’s support, Banja Luka requested technical assistance from the CTCN and a feasibility study for rehabilitating and modernising its district heating is now set to be carried out. The study will envisage a reduction in energy costs, heat losses, improved building efficiency and a switch to environmentally-friendly heating.

UNEP's National Reporting System and UNEP Live are currently being presented to local stakeholders in the Bosnian and Kosovan capitals Sarajevo and Pristina by staff from UNEP’s Division of Early Warning and Assessment.

The presentations take place in the framework of a project run by UNEP and the Global Environment Facility titled ‘Capacity Development for the Integration of Global Environmental Commitments into National Policies and Development Decision Making in Bosnia and Herzegovina’.

For more details please contact amina.omicevic@unep.org