Report on semi-­structured interviews workers and the opening of the labour market for more green jobs as one of the main opportunities in the process of inclusive energy transition. They believe that the quality of educational programmes, especially education, should be raised. A year ago, the net metering scheme for small and medium enterprises and households became legally regulated, and now the system is opening for the citizens to store and re­ceive the electricity they produced.‘The intention is very good, but the implementation is very slow. It is easier to im­port’, says one interviewee. RESULTS BY COUNTRY 1. ALBANIA Awareness of inclusive energy transition The interviewees from Albania do not think that the term in­clusive energy transition is recognised in Albania. One of the participants thinks that the government leads the process and private companies follow. Another says that the neces­sary first step is raising public awareness about the benefits of renewable energy sources. He believes that energy ex­perts should be the voice of inclusive energy transition in the media:‘If we wait for the government or public companies to do that, things are not going to move’, he concludes. However, one of the biggest barriers to an inclusive energy transition is the lack of political discourse on the topic, one of the stakeholders says. In the last couple of years, civil so­ciety organisations(CSOs) have been a bit louder than be­fore, and things have moved. One of the interviewees says that photovoltaics has been mentioned in public as part of an election campaign. Another recalls an example that had a somewhat bigger public response: a clash between the prime minister and the president about the country’s prob­lem with small hydropower plants. Another thinks that the media should deal with energy issues more. Formal barriers to and opportunities for inclusion The stakeholders agree that the first step toward Albania’s inclusive energy transition would be the diversification of re­newable energy sources and the full liberalisation of the en­ergy market. When asked about renewable energy sources, interviewees identify technological stagnation as the main obstacle for the exploration of renewable energy sources besides hydropower. However, Albania is moving towards diversification of sources, especially solar. One of the partic­ipants stresses that two solar farms are under construction, but it will take a few years for the electricity to come to the consumers and that it should have started earlier. Environ­mental protection is often an obstacle in the selection pro­cess for the solar farm locations. They are often built in the vicinity of protected areas or agricultural land. Feasibility studies have been done for wind farms, but there have been no investments so far. Most of the interviewees state that Albania should primarily invest in the development of the grid infrastructure. One of the stakeholders points out that a lot more should be invested in the development of energy storage technologies. The monopoly on energy supply and low electricity prices are viewed as a tool to keep low-in­come voters satisfied. Regarding legislation, all the interviewees stress that the laws are relatively well transposed, but that secondary legis­lation is missing. In the process of preparing the laws, the specialists do not consider the cost of the investment, which then becomes too expensive and the government cannot provide the budget. Decision makers lack knowledge, and administration is not efficient enough. The drafting procedures for strategic documents and laws are transparent; there are public consultations, but the com­ments from civil society are not considered, says one re­spondent. More organisations are included in the processes of writing laws and fewer in strategies. More civil society or­ganisations are dealing with environmental issues, and few­er with energy, state two of the interviewees, and yet, the involvement of environmental NGOs in decision-making is less welcome. The grassroots organisations are the most ac­tive, mentions one interviewee. Four of our interviewees consider a lack of expertise and po­litical will the reason that the country’s high energy and cli­mate goals are not reachable. Another challenge is corrup­tion in the energy sector – for example, one participant says that despite a ban on the cutting of firewood, there have been cases in which government officials allow some small companies to continue to do so. Albania is currently in debt, and its main source of funding for such efforts is foreign. According to an NGO participant, apart from financial problems, investments have been blocked due to the lack of a good legal framework in the ex­tensive, six-year process of judicial reform, which aims to free the courts from political influence and corruption. Energy poverty The interviewees from Albania are not familiar with specific energy poverty policies, pointing out that as far as they know, all of the measures are constructed simply to help vul­nerable citizens with paying their electricity bills. Employment As a consequence of the catastrophic earthquake in 2019, intensive construction in Albania is underway. The renova­tion plans for buildings include energy efficiency measures, and these types of activities employ a new workforce. Stake­holders from the civil sector think that this is one of the things that the government should point out as the benefit of an inclusive energy transition. This would certainly con­tribute to the popularisation of the concept of green jobs 63