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
Croatian 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 moreAnother half a million euros for coal from Romania’s state budget
Blog entry | 12 December, 2018A Government Decision granting RON 2 775 722 (EUR 596 000) to Oltenia Energy Complex to expropriate the land needed for the planned Craiova Power Plant ash storage expansion has been put into public debate by the Ministry of Energy.
Read moreRelated publications
Just transition in Bulgaria – mission possible for Maritsa Iztok energy complex?
Briefing | 23 November, 2018 | Download PDFReflecting the European trend for phasing out highly polluting fuels like coal, this preliminary analysis outlines options for a just energy transition in the broad region surrounding the heart of Bulgarian coal energy – Maritsa Iztok energy complex in
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.
