Journalists from the Center for Investigative Reporting (CIN-CG) Kristina Radović and Anđela Korać responded to the reaction of the Ministry of Ecology, Sustainable Development and Northern Development (MERS) published yesterday on the Vijesti portal under the title "MERS: Regular and inclusive communication key to shaping effective climate policy."
MERS responded to the article "CIN-CG: Pollution is rising, plans are in the fog - Montenegro without a clear strategy to reduce harmful gas emissions" published on June 16 on the Vijesti portal.
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We are publishing the CIN-CG journalist's response in full:
"The response of the Ministry of Ecology, Sustainable Development and Northern Development (MERS) states that the text by the Center for Investigative Journalism of Montenegro (CIN-CG) contains erroneous and inaccurate data, but MERS failed to prove these allegations in a single paragraph of its response.
MERS's key argument is that CIN-CG claims that Montenegro's updated Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) for 2030 and 2035 is a "general political plan," and this is not stated anywhere in the text.
MERS also claims that: "the article incorrectly states that the Energy Community Secretariat criticized the NDC", because as they point out: "The Secretariat does not comment on the NDCs of member states". However, this claim is not proven either, because CIN-CG precisely quoted the Energy Community Secretariat's statements from the document:
"Recommendations 1/2025 by the Energy Community Secretariat on the Draft Integrated National Energy and Climate Plan of Montenegro.”
The document states: "One of the many observations of the Energy Community Secretariat (ECS) is that it is not clear how the target of reducing GHG emissions by 2030 will be achieved. They state that the policies and measures do not seem realistic given that the key measures relate to reducing emissions at the Pljevlja Thermal Power Plant (TPP), improvements in the waste sector and the rapid adoption of electric vehicles."
The allegation that our interlocutor Ivana Vojinović's assessment that "there is a lack of transparency" is incorrect does not need to be refuted, because we have only consistently quoted the position of the director of the UDG Center for Climate Change, an organization that deals with climate change.
Therefore, everything stated in the text: "Pollution is growing, plans in the fog - Montenegro without a clear strategy for reducing harmful gas emissions" is based on facts, official documents and the views of experts.
"It is particularly problematic that MERS is using our article to advertise its work through reaction, questioning the credibility of CIN-CG, instead of answering the question of why one of the key documents we wrote about was based on unrealistic projections and problematic data," the text states.
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