With the support from the Delegation of the European Union in Serbia, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the Ministry of Environmental Protection selected the best project proposals received in response to the “Challenge Call for Innovative Solutions for Cleaner Air”. This public call was announced within the project "EU for the Green Agenda in Serbia" in March this year.

The expert jury selected 10 of the 30 proposals for innovative solutions that had arrived, and these will be provided with mentoring and technical support to further develop their ideas. In addition, mentoring support will also be provided to 4 project proposals that arrived through the “Clean Air Challenge”, which was announced by UNDP in 2020 in cooperation with UNICEF and the World Health Organization.

In the first phase, the selected teams will undergo training in fields like business planning and a legal framework; product promotion; air quality improvement technologies; market research; as well as assistance in the development of specific analyses, project documentation, etc. The co-funding project preparation phase starts in October 2022 and will end in December 2022.

After the end of this phase, at least 5 best solutions will receive co-financing so they can be applied in practice. Part of the co-financing, in the amount of 390,000 euros, will be provided from the project funds, and the candidates will be trained on how to attract additional funding sources. Additionally, UNDP will set up an innovative solutions presentation round to commercial banks and the donor community to secure additional funding sources.

Companies from the private and public sectors, scientific research institutions, and local self-governments applied to the Challenge and proposed ideas that will lead to the reduction of pollution and improvement of air quality at the local level, such as:

• solutions fossil fuels replacement with renewable energy sources
• solutions for new technological processes and products to reduce air pollution
• solutions for mapping active individual furnaces
• solutions for reducing harmful emissions in the agricultural sector

The implementation of these ideas will contribute to harmful gas emission reduction and the improvement of air quality, as well as to the implementation of the Green Agenda in Serbia and will also lead to the preservation and creation of new jobs.

The list of selected solutions can be found on this LINK.

The project "EU for the Green Agenda in Serbia", with the financial support of the European Union and in partnership with the Ministry of Environmental Protection, is implemented by UNDP, in cooperation with the Embassy of Sweden, the European Investment Bank and the Government of Switzerland.