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
Rovinari unit 7, Romania
The Romanian Government has been negotiating for several years with the Chinese Government to build a new 600 MW unit at the lignite power plant in Rovinari, Gorj County. The new unit would be built on the site of Units 1 and 2, currently decommissioned. A new up and running plant would pollute the whole region for at least 40 more years, a coal plant’s average lifespan.
Gacko II, Bosnia and Herzegovina
State-owned utility Elektroprivreda Republike Srpske, together with China Machinery and Engineering Corporation (CMEC) and Emerging Markets Power Fund, plans to build a new 350 MW lignite power plant in Gacko, near the town’s existing plant, and in December 2017 a Memorandum of Understanding was signed to move the project forward.
Kamengrad lignite power plant, Bosnia-Herzegovina
An idea to build a power plant at the open-cast Kamengrad coal mine near Sanski Most in the Federation of Bosnia-Herzegovina has been around for years, but in 2017 it took a step forward with the November signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between Energy China International and the Bosnia-Herzegovina construction supplier Lager d.o.o. for a 2 X 215 MW plant.
Latest news
EBRD: Looking for 200 million euros… in Serbia
Bankwatch in the media | 5 October, 2018Belgrade has been in trouble as the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has begun a search to find out where 200m euros ended up going. A sum which was granted as a loan to Serbia’s largest energy company, Elektroprivreda Srbije (EP …
Read moreBankwatch: EUR 200m EBRD Loan to Serbian EPS Under Investigation
Bankwatch in the media | 3 October, 2018The independent grievance body of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has started investigating a EUR 200 million ‘restructuring loan’ granted in 2015 to Elektroprivreda Srbije (EPS), the largest energy company in Serbia, follow …
Read moreEnergy Community warns Bosnia over guarantee for Tuzla power plant expansion
Bankwatch in the media | 2 October, 2018The secretariat of the Energy Community has urged the parliament of Bosnia & Herzegovina’s Muslim-Croat Federation to halt its plans to approve a guarantee for a loan from China’s Exim Bank for the construction of a new unit at the Tuzla coal-fired …
Read moreRelated publications
EBRD renewable investments finally matched its fossil fuel investments in 2017 – So why is the bank’s draft Energy Strategy still fixated with gas?
Briefing | 15 October, 2018 | Download PDFThe European Bank for Reconstruction and Development has recently issued a new draft Energy Strategy for public consultation that will define its activities in the energy sector from 2019-2023. It clearly commits to halt all direct financing for coal p …
65 groups from 28 Countries tell EBRD and EIB to stop financing fossil fuels
Advocacy letter | 28 September, 2018 | Download PDFThe letter is written on the need to ensure the ongoing energy reviews at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the European Investment Bank are aligned with the Paris Agreement goals.
European public funding for fossil fuel-dependent companies
Study | 27 September, 2018 | Download PDFCEE Bankwatch Network follows closely the EBRD’s ‘sister institutions’ and actively advocates for improvement of their lending policies. As the European Investment Bank (EIB) is expected to review its 2013 ‘Screening and Assessment Criteria for Energy …
