In the wake of the World Energy Efficiency Day, a panel discussion entitled ENERGY AND LOCAL SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT was held on 4 March 2022 in Niš. The panel was organized by the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering in Niš, in cooperation with the Serbian Thermal Society and the Science and Technology Park in Niš. It was held in the large conference hall of the Science and Technology Park in Niš.

On behalf of UPES, Branislava Lepotić Kovačević, President of UPES, participated in the panel by addressing the role of local self-government in the application of regulations on energy efficiency.

The panel was opened with welcoming remarks of the Dean of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering in Niš, Prof. Goran Janevski. The Society of Thermal Engineers gave a greetings letter to the panel participants. Afterwards, the meeting was welcomed by Milan Ranđelović, the director of the Science and Technology Park in Niš, Aleksandar Milićević, the director of the Serbian Chamber of Commerce – Niš Regional Chamber of Commerce, Dr. Nebojša Ranđelović, Professor and State Secretary of the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development, Dr. Mirjana Laković, Professor and Head of the Department of Thermotechnics, Thermal Power Engineering and Process Engineering of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering in Niš and the President of the Organizing Committee of the SIMTERM conference.

Welcoming remarks were followed by the following lectures:

1. Ljubo Maćić, Institute of Economics: Challenges of decarbonization and their impact on local development
2. Dr. Branislava Lepotić Kovačević, Serbian Energy Law Association: The role of local self-government in the implementation of regulations on energy efficiency
3. Dušan Radivojević, Office for Local Economic Development of the City of Niš: Local Development – Budget Plans of the Office for Local Economic Development for Energy Efficiency Measures
4. Marko Ljubenović, NTP, EIT Climate-KIC: Serbia hub experience and next steps
5. Nataša Obradović, DMV company.

The report of the panel can be found HERE.

YouTube video of the panel is available HERE.