Utilizing Bank Loans to Enhance The Energy Efficiency of Enterprises in The Western Balkan Countries

The improvement of energy efficiency and transitioning to renewable energy sources in conditions of intense efforts to reduce global warming has become a need. Numerous programs were adopted for financing these activities by international financial institutions and development organizations, whereby a significant part of these programs are implemented by banks. This paper analyses bank loans that have been approved within the Western Balkans Investment Framework (WBIF) program to evaluate their contribution to the realization of the energy performance of enterprises in the Western Balkans countries. By applying content analysis, case study, and comparative methods on the analysed enterprises, it was determined that the mentioned programs were implemented in the Republic of Serbia, North Macedonia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. These programs and credit lines contributed to increasing the energy efficiency of enterprises in the analysed countries. Considering the dominant role of banks in the financial sectors of the Western Balkans countries, banks should take on the role of project creditors oriented towards the improvement of energy efficiency in the future, especially when crediting SMEs. In order to be able to support as many of these projects as possible, banks need to strengthen their institutional and personnel capacities.