As Klima 101 writes, the main issue is not the measures themselves, because the causes of pollution are already more or less known, but their cost. According to the estimates presented in the Program, the cost of fulfilling the harshest and necessary scenario is around 2.6 billion euros by 2030.
It is emphasized that the private sector and the population will first pay for it, because the amount of public investment, primarily through subsidies, would be around 417 million euros.
What would the state subsidize?
It is, of course, currently only a proposal of measures and their prices, which has yet to be adopted.
If that happens, in addition to a series of regulatory and educational measures, here are some of the most important instruments that the state will offer to enable residents to transition:
Subsidies of up to 2,100 euros to users of diesel cars for the purchase of used vehicles that meet Euro 6 criteria;
Subsidies for the replacement of individual fireplaces of 50 percent in the territory of the entire country, with higher rates for localities that are particularly threatened by polluted air.
Estimates of the amount of subsidies range from 240 euros (the lower limit for modern wood-burning devices) to 3,000 euros as the maximum amount for the installation of a heat pump.
Even if they are implemented according to the letter of the Program, these measures should not be expected tomorrow.
The price of transition
According to the Ministry, there are currently no appropriate funds in the budget for the implementation of planned public investments. The currently accessible funds include only those from the Green Fund and from the Budget Fund for Energy Efficiency, which total around 41 million euros. But as assessed, the goals are achievable, if there is the appropriate political will for it.
The first and basic problem is subsidies for the energy transition in individual heating. Namely, as current research shows, a subsidy of 50 percent for the purchase of a new heating device is simply not enough for a large part of the population in Serbia. In other words, it is highly questionable whether such a subsidy would even have a chance to lead to the necessary transition rate of 55 percent by 2030.
Moreover, the amount of subsidy in the program is exclusively related to the level of pollution, so higher subsidies, from 80 to 100 percent, are foreseen only for the catastrophically polluted cities of Belgrade, Niš, Kragujevac, Užice and Valjevo.
This means that for a large percentage of the materially disadvantaged population, who do not live in these urban areas, the price of transition could be higher than for households in, for example, Belgrade.
One of the proposals for financing the transition is a fee (fee) for passenger vehicles in relation to their category, from 15 euros per year for Euro 5 vehicles to 60 euros per year for older Euro 3 vehicles. those who do not actually have enough funds to meet the set goals pay disproportionately, BiF writes.
