North Macedonia: tapping multilateral climate finance to kickstart an economy-wide just transition

In March 2024, Climate Investment Funds (CIF) approved a US$85 million investment plan to support and accelerate coal phase-out in the West Balkans nation of North Macedonia. The plan, under CIF’s Accelerated Coal Transition Investment Program (ACT IP), is designed to trigger almost US$600 million in funding from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the World Bank and other public and private investors. This in turn will mobilise a total of €3 billion (US$3.4 billion) into the country’s wider Just Energy Transition Investment Platform (JETIP) by 2030. This case study explores the just transition elements of the ACT IP in the context of its wider investments in clean energy in North Macedonia.