Proposed changes to the European Union’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism could reduce the cost faced by Bosnia and Herzegovina’s electricity exporters by as much as €13 million annually. The changes are described as potentially improving the competitiveness of regional power sales into the EU. Bosnia says the revisions could save exporters up to that amount each year.
Actual electricity mix and power-purchase agreements in emissions accounting
The proposed approach would allow the actual electricity mix of an exporting country, including renewable generation, to play a greater role when emissions associated with imported electricity are calculated. Electricity supplied through qualifying power-purchase agreements could also receive actual-emissions treatment. This would include certain transactions involving intermediaries.
The revisions are set to apply from Jan. 1, 2026. Bosnia and Herzegovina is simultaneously preparing a methodology for calculating the carbon dioxide emission factor of its electricity grid. The grid calculation is expected to be important because the country’s generation mix combines substantial coal-fired production with large hydroelectric output.
Grid emission factors and traceability requirements
Using an undifferentiated or conservative emissions assumption can make exported electricity appear significantly more carbon intensive than individual transactions may actually be. A more granular framework could increase the value of renewable electricity and PPAs under the accounting approach described. It could also encourage generators and traders to improve metering, contractual traceability, and guarantees-of-origin systems.
Regional rollout of electricity-origin and emissions-accounting systems
The implications extend beyond Bosnia and Herzegovina. Serbia, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Albania are also developing electricity-origin and emissions-accounting systems. The development work is linked to how CBAM increasingly connects physical electricity trading with carbon documentation.
