Framing the core mission of the initiative, David Klepej, CEF Officer and GHC Project Content Manager, underscored the critical linkage between institutional capacity and finance: “The green transition becomes real only when policies become projects, projects become investments, and investments create tangible benefits for people and communities. In the end, the challenge before us is not what should be done, but if we can bring together the institutional capacity, partnerships, and financing needed to deliver what we already know must be done.”

CEF Director Jana Repanšek challenged institutions to focus squarely on execution capacity: “Public institutions usually do not lack another strategy—many already have enough strategies to build a small, very well-organized library. What they often lack is the institutional space to ask more difficult questions: Who is responsible? Who needs to cooperate? Where will the financing come from? And simply — what happens on Monday morning?” Host representative Samo Seničar, Deputy Mayor of Celje, reinforced that real transition happens on the ground: “Local government cannot deliver green transition alone. Green transition will be measured with what people can see and feel in their everyday lives.”

Bridging the Strategy-to-Execution Gap

In the opening debate moderated by CEF’s David Klepej and Alenka Recelj Mercina, leaders examined how to overcome implementation bottlenecks. Regional Cooperation Council (RCC) expert Ivana Marković-Bosković stressed that "behind every transition there is a human capital and this is where we need to pay more attention to in the future," while Luxembourg’s Jimmy Skenderović urged that "once you have legislation, it needs to follow up with a clear action plan and time frame." Sector leaders, including Kosovo’s Valdet Hadri and North Macedonia’s Dragan Simonovski, presented concrete progress in renewable energy auctions and green transport networks, alongside Slovenia’s Janez Berdavs who pointed out ongoing transport decarbonization challenges.

Breaking Silos and Building Public Trust

Addressing systemic governance barriers, a panel led by Montserrat Pareja-Eastaway tackled institutional resistance and financing scale. NALAS representative Elton Stafa exposed a staggering Western Balkans climate adaptation funding gap of €150 billion per year, while Ladeja Godina Košir (Circular Change) raised the crucial question of "how much money is spent and how much money is well spent." UNDP’s Tina Stoum noted that "human nature is risk-averse" and requires brokers to drive change, with Montenegro’s Milena Mijajlović warning that project delivery fails without early public engagement: “Implementation gets stuck when responsibility is needed... if you do not include people in communication at the very beginning, then there is a problem.”

Unlocking Capital and Aligning Public Budgets

Focusing on fiscal engines and investment readiness, the third panel chaired by Alenka Recelj Mercina laid out financial reform priorities. IMF’s Alpa Shah emphasized that "the green transition is not only an environmental issue, but is also a fiscal and finance issue," calling for a comprehensive policy mix of carbon pricing and tax incentives. EIB’s Simon Savšek demanded strategic consistency, stating, "We are changing priorities and that is not good. We have to have a course and implement it." Finance leaders Albana Gjinopulli (Albania) and Luka Kevešević (Croatia) further detailed forward-looking budget frameworks and climate risk integration necessary to secure funding.

The Financing the Green Transition conference is being delivered as part of the »Greening Human Capital of Public Institutions of the Western Balkans« project, with support from Slovenia's Ministry of the Environment and Spatial Planning and the Climate Change Fund of Slovenia. The Municipality of Celje hosts the events.