ZAGREB, CROATIA – On March 1st and 2nd, 2023, U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm traveled to Zagreb, Croatia to co-host the Fourth Ministerial Meeting of the Partnership for Transatlantic Energy and Climate Cooperation (P-TECC), the United States’ premier multilateral partnership with Central and Eastern European Countries, including 23 countries and the European Commission. Taking place just after the one-year mark of Russia’s illegal, immoral, and unprovoked aggression against Ukraine, this meeting of P-TECC provided a critical platform for high-level public and private industry leaders to foster transatlantic collaboration on energy security, diversification, and decarbonization. Deputy Secretary of Commerce Don Graves joined Secretary Granholm on the U.S. delegation.
Energy Ministers expressed uniform support for Ukraine, focusing in particular on Russia’s unconscionable and highly dangerous attacks on the electricity grid, and the broader weaponization of energy resources from gas supplies to Europe to global oil markets. Energy Ministers remain in solidarity on implementation of sanctions against these measures and provision of emergency energy supplies to both Ukraine and Moldova.
Over the two-day P-TECC Business Forum and Ministerial Meeting, Secretary Granholm announced several specific measures the Department of Energy (DOE) is working with P-TECC nations to further these priorities.
- Alongside Croatia, DOE is co-chairing a new P-TECC Geothermal Working Group to advance opportunities to expand and deploy geothermal technology as a source of clean, reliable, baseload power and heat.
- DOE is providing climate and grid vulnerability modeling for the Western Balkans, with support of the State Department and Argonne National Laboratory.
- DOE is creating new opportunities to provide P-TECC members with cybersecurity and training.
- DOE launched the Green Cities Alliance to connect Central and Eastern European cities with tools to advance regional and municipal climate goals, assess threats and vulnerabilities, and offer options for acceleration of clean energy deployment.
Secretary Granholm held bilateral meetings with Bulgaria, Croatia – including with Prime Minister Plenkovic – Moldova, Poland, Romania, Slovenia, and Ukraine to advance our shared goals of building secure and clean energy systems that create jobs on both sides of the Atlantic. She also held a joint “3+1” meeting with the Baltic countries Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia, focused on energy access and security, renewable energy, and in particular desynchronization with the Russian grid and integration into the European electric grid.
See here for the 2023 P-TECC Statement of Principles, agreed upon by the nations of P-TECC.
About P-TECC
P-TECC is a multilateral initiative led by the U.S. Department of Energy that focuses on rapidly decarbonizing Central and Eastern European economies, strengthening energy security in the region, creating business connections with U.S. companies, and fostering cooperation. P-TECC comprises 23 countries in Central and Eastern Europe and the European Commission and is complementary to the Three Seas Initiative with its focus on energy infrastructure, interconnection, and security.
Official news published at https://www.energy.gov/articles/readout-secretary-granholm-visit-croatia-partnership-transatlantic-energy-and-climate
