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
Energy Community: Bosnia-Herzegovina guarantee for Chinese loan for Tuzla 7 is state aid, breaks EU law
Press release | 5 March, 2019The Energy Community confirmed today that the loan guarantee the Federation of Bosnia-Herzegovina Parliament wants to approve for the EUR 614 million China Exim Bank loan for the Tuzla 7 coal power plant indeed constitutes state aid according to EU law. The Energy Community had commissioned an expert analysis to look into the issue following a complaint by Aarhus Resource Centre and Bankwatch.
Read moreBosnia-Herzegovina politicians defy investigation to approve Chinese loan guarantee for coal power plant
Press release | 26 February, 2019The Federation of Bosnia-Herzegovina Parliament looks set to approve a loan guarantee for a EUR 614 million China Exim Bank loan for the Tuzla 7 coal power this Thursday, 28 February, [1], despite an ongoing Energy Community investigation into its compliance with State aid legislation.
Read moreEU 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 moreRelated publications
Retrained and forgotten
Study | 16 April, 2019 | Download PDFThis research analyses the context of downsizing the ining sector in the Jiu Valley, the concrete measures taken to mitigate the social impact in the areas hit by restructuring the mining sector and how successful these measures were.
Chinese-financed coal projects in Southeast Europe
Briefing | 8 April, 2019 | Download PDFEU member states Romania and Greece, as well as several EU enlargement countries in the Western Balkans, plan to build new lignite power plants. The Balkan coal plans starkly conflict with the Paris Agreement’s aim of limiting climate change to 1.5°C b
Slovak aspects of the EIB Energy Lending Policy
Policy comments | 1 April, 2019 | Download PDFOne of the biggest challenges in Slovakia is to ensure systematic support for the development of decentralised, non-fossil and sustainable energy system. The European Investment Bank (EIB) already invested far too much into fossil gas (77 per cent of a
