Environment and sustainable development ministers from the Western Balkans (WB6) have adopted the Dubrovnik Declaration at the second ministerial meeting on the Green Agenda for the Western Balkans (GAWB). The event was organized by the Regional Cooperation Council (RCC) with Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), supported by the European Commission, the Croatian government, and under the UK’s 2025 Berlin Process chairmanship.
The declaration commits the region to align with the European Green Deal and represents a step toward a cleaner, more sustainable, and climate-resilient Western Balkans. Ministers also approved four key regional documents:
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Revised Green Agenda Action Plan 2025–2030, reducing activities from 58 to 41;
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Climate adaptation roadmap for WB6, with a long-term resilience vision;
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Regional action plan on plastic pollution, including marine waste;
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Strategic biodiversity plan outlining conservation targets.
Targets include reducing single-use plastics by 80% by 2028, achieving 30% recycled content in plastic packaging by 2030, recycling 40% of municipal waste, and protecting 30% of terrestrial and marine areas, with at least 10% under strict protection.
“Dubrovnik Declaration is not just a political document. It moves the region from planning to measurable action,” said RCC Secretary-General Amer Kapetanović.
The Western Balkans has already seen average temperatures rise over 2°C, nearly double the global average. In 2024, 11 of Europe’s 13 largest wildfires occurred in the region. Adapting will require an estimated $37 billion in investments over the next decade, with potential annual benefits reaching $74 billion through savings, resilience, and sustainable growth.
EU officials welcomed the commitment. Jan Dusík, Deputy Director at the European Commission’s DG CLIMA, called the region’s goals ambitious but achievable and emphasized alignment with EU accession processes. Germany announced €250 million in new development loans for the region by year-end.
UK Ambassador Javed Patel highlighted regional cooperation as central to GAWB, while Croatian Minister Marija Vučković praised the Berlin Process as a successful model for collaboration.
A new digital monitoring platform by RCC was unveiled to track progress and enhance transparency across the region.
The Dubrovnik Declaration builds on the 2024 Hamburg Declaration, reinforcing the Western Balkans’ commitment to climate neutrality, biodiversity protection, pollution reduction, and alignment with the European Green Deal as part of the EU Growth Plan and the Berlin Process agenda.