Driving an Inclusive and Just Energy Transition in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Published: Oct 14, 2025 Reading time: 5 minutes Share: Share an articleBosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) suffers from some of Europe's worst air pollution, which is linked to approximately 3,300 premature deaths annually and accounts for over 20% of the country's GDP. The impacts of this air pollution are gendered and endured by those in marginalised communities.
Widespread energy poverty forces many vulnerable households, particularly Roma, rural, female-headed, and elderly households, to rely on harmful, polluting fuels like coal, wood, or waste for heating. Worse still, these groups disproportionately bear the burdens of air pollution, energy poverty, and climate change, while remaining largely excluded from decision-making.
Compounding these issues, climate governance is highly fragmented across state, entity, cantonal, and municipal levels. Weak inter-institutional coordination and limited capacity undermine planning efforts, resulting in duplicated work, a slow pace of inclusive climate action, and poor integration of Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI).
At People in Need (PIN), we conducted a GESI Study to identify the impacts of these challenges on different population groups and to examine the barriers, opportunities, and pathways for embedding GESI into climate, energy, and environmental policies and practices in BiH.
The study highlights that inclusive approaches to energy transition are not only equitable but also more effective. By integrating GESI into national and local climate policies, BiH can achieve faster, fairer, and more sustainable results.
The study was launched at Sarajevo Energy and Climate Week (SECW 25).
Sarajevo Energy and Climate Week
SECW is a major annual event that brings together stakeholders to discuss energy and climate challenges in Bosnia and Herzegovina. This year, of the three events hosted by our colleagues at People in Need Bosnia and Herzegovina, two focused on shaping BiH’s climate and energy transition, combining technical insights with perspectives on gender equality and social inclusion.
We co-hosted two high-level side events, each putting Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI) at the heart of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s climate and energy transition.
Event #1: Inclusive Climate Action and Energy Transition: GESI Study Launch
Our first side event presented the findings of our new Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI) Study, a comprehensive analysis of how climate change and air pollution affect different groups across Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Key insights:
- Bosnia and Herzegovina records some of the highest PM2.5 levels in Europe, causing an estimated 3,300 premature deaths every year and costing the economy over 20% of GDP. Women often carry a disproportionate care burden during smog episodes.
- Energy poverty is widespread and gendered: low-income households (particularly female-headed households, Roma families and the elderly) rely on coal, wood, or waste for heating, deepening health and economic vulnerability.
- Governance is fragmented: climate and energy responsibilities are spread across multiple levels, consultations often remain symbolic, and gender and social concerns are rarely integrated into policy.
Despite these challenges, the study shows how youth, women, persons with disabilities, and other marginalised groups can become powerful drivers of a just transition if their voices and perspectives are fully included.
Event #2: Super Pollutants, Super Solutions: A GESI Lens
The second side event, “Super Pollutants, Super Solutions: BiH’s Path to Cleaner Air & Climate Action,” focused on the country’s next big step: finalising the National Short-Lived Climate Pollutants (SLCP) Plan and Methane Roadmap.
These strategies aim to reduce super pollutants—methane, black carbon, HFCs, and tropospheric ozone—that are among the most powerful climate forcers (atmospheric chemicals that affect the climate) and serious health hazards.
We emphasised that cutting super pollutants must go hand-in-hand with equity safeguards, to ensure that the benefits reach everyone, especially low-income and marginalised groups, without deepening existing inequalities.
This means, for example, providing targeted clean-heating subsidies and accessible upgrades for stoves and furnaces, so that the poorest households can also breathe cleaner air.
It also requires gender-responsive planning and data systems that track results by gender/sex and other key intersectional factors and characteristics (such as age, disability and socio-economic status), ensuring strategies for reducing short-lived climate pollutants remain fair, inclusive, and measurable.
Why It Matters
Bosnia and Herzegovina has already taken bold steps by joining the Climate and Clean Air Coalition and endorsing the Global Methane Pledge. Finalising the SLCP Plan and Methane Roadmap with a strong GESI perspective is now both timely and essential to ensure that the fastest emission cuts also deliver health and equity gains.
The Call to Action
The GESI Study was launched during Sarajevo Energy and Climate Week (SECW 2025), bringing its findings on inclusion and equity in BiH’s climate and energy transition to the attention of government, civil society, academic, and international stakeholders.
The message od the GESI Study is clear: inclusive climate action is not an optional add-on—it is the foundation of a successful, just transition.
To see the full GESI Study report, Inclusive Climate Action: Advancing Gender Equality and Social Inclusion Perspectives into Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Energy Transition,
By bringing together government officials, UN agencies, civil society, researchers, academia and community voices, SECW 2025 showed how Bosnia and Herzegovina can cut super pollutants, advance climate goals and achieve social inclusion, ensuring that no one is left behind on the path to a cleaner, healthier and more equitable future.
