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.
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We provide updates in English from the Balkans and other coal regions.
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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
Sostanj lignite thermal power plant unit 6, Slovenia
Slovenia has built a new 600 MW unit at the Šoštanj lignite power plant (TEŠ6) which has turned out to be a financial disaster, as well as locking the country into a carbon-intensive future with tens of millions of annual losses for the next four decades.
Latest news
Green Agenda for the Western Balkans – time to plan for a resilient and protective future
Blog entry | 3 April, 2020The Green Agenda must be based on sustainable decarbonisation of the Western Balkans’ economies by 2050, in line with the Paris Climate Agreement and EU climate and energy policies. All countries need to commit to climate and energy targets by 2030, in line with the EU’s ambition.
Read moreA dozen green deal steps for the new Slovak government
Blog entry | 1 April, 2020With the appointment of a new centre-right government in Slovakia on 21 March, the Slovak Climate Initiative prepared a twelve point programme to move Slovakia closer to its climate and energy goals.
Read moreEU carbon tax: A much-needed nudge for decarbonisation in the Western Balkans?
Blog entry | 30 March, 2020An EU consultation is currently ongoing on the plans to introduce a carbon border tax. Bankwatch sees this as an important opportunity to make sure Western Balkan electricity producers play by the rules when participating in the EU energy market.
Read moreRelated publications
Joint NGO proposals on the Green Agenda for the Western Balkans
Joint Letter | 3 April, 2020 | Download PDFThe Western Balkans has the necessary resources not only for sustainable renewable energy and energy savings, but also for the production of healthy food, while nurturing its exceptional biodiversity. With only 18 million inhabitants, change in the region should not be as daunting a task as in larger economies, if carried out efficiently, with true political commitment and regional cooperation.
Alarming levels of air pollution in settlements in coal regions are choking Central and Eastern Europe
Briefing | 4 March, 2020 | Download PDFBankwatch’s ongoing air pollution campaign added six more locations to its independent particulate matter monitoring to provide on-the-ground data from these major polluting locations.
Financing the low carbon transition in Romania
Study | 21 February, 2020 | Download PDFRomania is the country in the South East European and Central East European with the best enabling conditions for the energy transition. Yet it continues to be one of the lignite intensive countries in the EU. Read our report to explore why on the European scale, Romanians still pay more than their European counterparts for the costs of this carbon intensive energy system.
