The economic viability of coal is ever decreasing. Without public financial support many coal investments are doomed to fail. Yet several institutions are still willing to finance an energy source that wrecks our climate, damages our health and wastes our money.
To help bring about a world beyond coal, we investigate and promote a socially responsible transition while exposing the economic, legal, social and environmental risks of coal power.
Stay informed
We provide updates in English from the Balkans and other coal regions.
IN FOCUS
Just transition
No one should be left behind when we reconstruct our world into one driven by clean energy. Working on just transition brings all actors who believe in fair regional redevelopment to the same table: unions, industry, public administration, governments, civil society and others sharing this goal.
Coal projects
Kostolac B3 lignite power plant, Serbia
Serbia’s state-owned utility Elektroprivreda Srbije is planning a new 350 MW lignite plant at Kostolac in the country’s north-east. In spite of high level support and Chinese financing, the project is plagued by concerns over pollution, state aid and legal challenges.
Kosova e Re lignite power plant, Kosovo
Kosovo currently wastes much of the electricity it produces in its two highly polluting lignite plants: In 2016, nearly 30 percent was lost from the distribution system through technical losses and non-payment (around half each), and much more is wasted through lack of energy efficiency measures. Yet the Kosovo government, heavily backed by the US government and World Bank, plans to build a new 500 MW lignite plant, Kosova e Re or New Kosovo.
Plomin coal power plant, Croatia
Croatian plans to more than double the capacity of the Plomin coal power plant would have resulted in increased carbon-emissions for several decades. The project’s profitability was questionable and the plans were facing local opposition and conflicting regional legislation.
Latest news
EU action on Western Balkans’ chronic coal pollution is a unique opportunity to improve health and productivity
Press release | 19 February, 2019Brussels – Sixteen outdated coal power plants in the Western Balkans are a public health and economic liability for the whole of Europe, with people in the EU bearing the majority of the health impacts and costs, according to a new report [1] by the Health and Environment Alliance (HEAL), Sandbag, Climate Action Network (CAN) Europe, CEE Bankwatch Network and Europe Beyond Coal. The European Union (EU) needs to use all of the tools available to improve health, prolong lives, save health costs and increase productivity both in the EU and in the Western Balkan region.
Read moreCroatian coal plant must not be resurrected
Blog entry | 13 February, 2019The Plomin 1 coal plant, on Croatia’s Istrian coast, is already 50 years old. In 2017 it closed due to a fire. Yet the Croatian Ministry of Environmental Protection and Energy looks set to allow Plomin 1’s owner, HEP, to bring it back from the dead without even an environmental impact assessment.
Read moreA New Year’s resolution for Novaci – clean air
Blog entry | 15 January, 2019Macedonia made headlines in December when the United Nations ranked its capital city, Skopje, as the most polluted capital city in Europe. If the ranking included non-capitals, it would not miss Novaci – a small village in the country’s south that also gasps for breath.
Read moreRelated publications
Towards a just transition for the Upper Nitra region
Briefing | 24 January, 2019 | Download PDFPriatelia ZEME – CEPA and CEE Bankwatch are today launching a set of recommendations to feed into the Just Transition debate taking place in Upper Nitra and at the national level in Slovakia. The recommendations come in a context when Just Transition i
New jobs in the process of transformation of the Upper Nitra region (in Slovak)
Study | 24 January, 2019 | Download PDFThis paper focuses on a brief outline of concrete steps to turn Upper Nitra towards a low carbon future. In particular, it is to stop further public subsidies to fossil energy – especially lignite mining and burning – and urgently redirect public funds
Failing Better or Climate Success?
Briefing | 10 December, 2018 | Download PDFAll the shareholders of the EIB have ratified the Paris Agreement, and the bank itself has claimed during the One Planet Summit in New York that it will align all its activities with the Paris Agreement by 2020. As President Hoyer put it, ‘I am confide
