The recently published European Commission Report on Montenegro’s progress in the EU accession process for 2025 assesses that Montenegro has a certain level of preparedness in the area covered by Chapter 27 – environment and climate change, and that some progress was made during the reporting period.

Although the public often hears about how complex and financially demanding this chapter is, Chapter 27 is still one of the three chapters for which Montenegro has achieved “a certain level of preparedness,” which is only one step above the rating “early stage.” This implies that progress in this area can be achieved only with significantly greater efforts—which are currently lacking.

This progress report confirms the earlier views of Coalition 27, as well as the key recommendations we provided in the Shadow Report for 2025—namely, that the implementation of planned obligations is slow, with a high proportion of partially fulfilled measures and frequent deadline extensions.

An analysis of reports from the past five years shows that after three consecutive years of limited progress (2021, 2022, and 2023), some progress was made in Chapter 27 during the last two years (2024 and 2025). This is certainly a positive assessment, but it still falls far short of the progress needed for the country to reach a higher level of preparedness in this area and, consequently, to improve the state of the environment and climate action.

The progress report for Chapter 27 particularly highlights the need to strengthen administrative capacities at both national and local levels, especially in inspection services and within the sub-area of climate change.

For several years now, there has been complete stagnation in the sub-area of air quality, which remains the case. This area must receive attention in the coming period through the urgent adoption of the Air Quality Management Strategy, which has been in draft form since 2019, followed by the implementation of appropriate measures in our cities.

Although some legislative and strategic progress has been made in the area of waste management—through the adoption of the new Waste Management Law, several by-laws, and the State Waste Management Plan for 2025–2029—many additional by-laws still need to be adopted, along with municipal waste management plans, in order to establish a functional system. It is particularly important to work on ensuring infrastructure for separate waste collection and recycling, as Montenegro already faces serious problems regarding waste disposal, which directly affects public health and the environment.

Numerous issues are also present in the sub-area of nature protection. The Nature Protection Law and the National Biodiversity Strategy remain pending. The case under the Bern Convention related to the Porto Skadar Lake project is still open, as is the issue of the military training ground on Sinjajevina. Regarding the Ulcinj Saltworks, despite ongoing work on the management plan, a permanent manager for this protected area has still not been appointed.

With respect to industrial pollution, the ongoing ecological reconstruction of the Pljevlja Thermal Power Plant has not addressed key problems. Montenegro must make efforts to permanently close the plant in order to meet EU emission standards. A strategic framework for a just transition is also needed, creating economic alternatives for communities that will be affected by the gradual phase-out of coal.

In the area of climate change, Montenegro still has not completed and adopted the key strategic document in this field—the National Energy and Climate Plan. The adopted National Adaptation Plan awaits implementation.

Taking all of this into account, and knowing that these obligations have been ongoing for many years, it is clear that significantly greater effort is necessary to achieve results in this area, ensure essential progress, fulfil the closing benchmarks of Chapter 27, improve environmental conditions, and protect public health.

Note: The scale used for assessing the current level of preparedness includes: early stage, some level of preparedness, moderately prepared, good level of preparation, and well advanced. The scale for assessing progress during the reporting period includes: backsliding, no progress, limited progress, some progress, good progress, and very good progress.