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
Just transition
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. They should be working together to find what is best for their regions and communities, from creating good quality jobs to identifying sustainable alternatives.
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.
Latest news
Green Agenda for the Western Balkans – time to plan for a resilient and protective future
Blog entry | 3 April, 2020The Green Agenda must be based on sustainable decarbonisation of the Western Balkans’ economies by 2050, in line with the Paris Climate Agreement and EU climate and energy policies. All countries need to commit to climate and energy targets by 2030, in line with the EU’s ambition.
Read moreA dozen green deal steps for the new Slovak government
Blog entry | 1 April, 2020With the appointment of a new centre-right government in Slovakia on 21 March, the Slovak Climate Initiative prepared a twelve point programme to move Slovakia closer to its climate and energy goals.
Read moreEU carbon tax: A much-needed nudge for decarbonisation in the Western Balkans?
Blog entry | 30 March, 2020An EU consultation is currently ongoing on the plans to introduce a carbon border tax. Bankwatch sees this as an important opportunity to make sure Western Balkan electricity producers play by the rules when participating in the EU energy market.
Read moreRelated publications
Comply or close: how Western Balkan coal plants breach air pollution laws and what governments must do about it
Study | 10 December, 2019 | Download PDFIn 2018, pollution control legislation under the Energy Community Treaty finally obliged the Western Balkan countries to start reducing the choking air pollution from their coal power plants. Action was badly needed. In 2016, these 16 plants emitted as
The transformation action plan for the Slovakia’s Upper Nitra coal region
Study | 24 September, 2019 | Download PDFThe aim of this study is to describe the process by which local communities participated in the Transformation Action Plan of Coal Region Upper Nitra and to propose concrete steps towards the better integration of the local communities in order to achi
Seven Golden Rules for open and inclusive just transition planning at the regional level
Briefing | 15 July, 2019 | Download PDFEvery region and every community is different. As EU countries wake up to the climate emergency and the need for a swift transition to a sustainable and carbon-neutral society, it is becoming increasingly clear that we need regional and community-level
