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
Pippa Gallop, Bankwatch: We Need to Stop Building New Fossil Fuel Infrastructure
Bankwatch in the media | 6 August, 2018While the major EU states have already set out a clear strategy for the swiftest possible transition to renewable energy sources and found many business opportunities along the way, the countries of South East Europe (SEE), where renewable power plant …
Read moreChina expands coal power interests in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bankwatch in the media | 24 July, 2018The Balkans are determined to stay in the coal era – even while most countries in Europe are making plans for a future without coal, argues MARINA KELAVA. Source: China expands coal power interests in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Read moreA different kind of bucket challenge
Blog entry | 18 July, 2018In May this year, Romania made headlines after being referred to the European Union’s Court of Justice for failing to solve its air pollution problem. This breach is about three major cities – Bucharest, Iași and Brașov. But beyond the big cities, small communities are opposing polluting coal industries with nothing more than a bucket.
Read moreRelated publications
Doomed to coal
Study | 4 January, 2018 | Download PDFThis study, prepared by the Kazakh Center for the New Environmentally Friendly Technologies (CINEST) provides an overview of the state and prospects for the development of coal-mining and energy-generating industries in Kazakhstan, in the context of th …
Review of the coal sector in Tajikistan
Study | 18 December, 2017 | Download PDFThis study provides a detailed assessment of the state of affairs in Tajikistan’s coal sector and in the development of solutions for environmental protection.
Gas lending at the European Investment Bank 2013-2016
Briefing | 12 December, 2017 | Download PDFSince the European Investment Bank (EIB) revised its energy lending criteria in 2012, it has limited its support for fossil fuels projects in the energy sector and eliminated the most polluting power plants from its portfolio. However, the bank’s contr …
