In-Depth Review of Energy Efficiency Policy of Belarus

The first In-depth energy efficiency review of the Republic of Belarus was completed in September 2012 by a team of experts from Armenia, Austria and Sweden, led by a representative of Kazakhstan and supported by the Energy Charter Secretariat.
The review team observed that since the beginning of the 1990s, the Republic of Belarus had pursued a governmental policy aimed at the improvement of energy efficiency of the economy, including the establishment of a regulatory framework, institutional infrastructure, a system of key performance indicators and state programmes with respective monitoring instruments.
The report notes that that energy saving potential of low-cost organisational and economic measures is almost used up and it is necessary to make significant investments in modernising the industry by introducing energy-efficient equipment and technologies and deploying efficient energy production units. The planned reform of the energy sector will provide favourable conditions for attracting the necessary investments.
In its report, the review team encourages the Belarusian authorities to continue with the implementation of the state policy on energy efficiency and renewable energy sources, as well as to pursue the policy of restructuring energy prices to remove cross-subsidies. The team also recommended to the Belarus government to consider the adoption of market-oriented principles and legislation for the energy sector, to further analyse and identify a system of measures aimed at increasing the share of private capital, loans and borrowings in energy efficiency and renewable energy implementation.
The recommendations made to the Belarus government were endorsed by the Energy Charter Conference at its meeting in November 2012.