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
Belgrade Court Orders Investigation into Kolubara Case
Bankwatch in the media | 6 October, 2011Belgrade’s Special Court has ordered an investigation into the former director of Serbia’s strip mining complex and 16 others on suspicion that they incurred financial damages to the company worth over €10 million.
Read moreSerbia: cleaning up like the neighbours
Bankwatch in the media | 4 October, 2011The arrest of a former mining boss on the Macedonia-Greece border might seem far from the corridors of Brussels, but the desire for EU membership takes many forms.
Read moreKontrowersje wokół budowy elektrowni węglowej w Rajkowach
Bankwatch in the media | 22 September, 2011PELPLIN. Nie odbyła się zaplanowana na 20 września debata o elektrowni węglowej w Rajkowach z udziałem niezależnych ekspertów, przedstawicieli inwestora oraz samych mieszkańców. Zdaniem władz gminy zabrakło czasu na jej organizację. Trwają negocjacje nad nowym terminem.
Read moreRelated publications
Energy doublethink: contradictions at the EU bank in combatting climate change
Study | 11 September, 2018 | Download PDFThis year the European Investment Bank is expected to review its 2013 ‘Screening and Assessment Criteria for Energy Projects’, also known as its Energy Lending Criteria, which governs the types of projects the bank can finance in the energy sector. The …
The great coal jobs fraud (2018 UPDATE)
Study | 28 June, 2018 |This study, an update of our November 2016 analysis, examines the claims and finds that in almost all cases, they are exaggerated. In fact, even the current levels of employment cannot be maintained and some companies such as Elektroprivreda Srbije and …
New Kosovo power plant – an expensive and outdated anomaly in a decarbonising world
Briefing | 19 June, 2018 | Download PDFAfter years of delay, the New Kosovo lignite power plant took a step forward in 2017 with the signing of commercial contracts. However, numerous old issues, including carbon emissions, resettlement, and the dubious single-bidder procurement process, ha …
