Last week, the feedback period on the EU’s proposed regulation for the Just Transition Fund (JTF) closed. CEE Bankwatch Network was among over 150 organisations and individuals that submitted comments.
ContourGlobal finally quits Kosova e Re coal plant
March 17, 2020 | Read more
ContourGlobal is quitting the planned 500 MW Kosova e Re lignite power plant project in Kosovo. The company stated that it is now impossible for the project to meet the required milestones, citing, among others, the recent formation of a government led by a Prime Minister publicly opposed to the project.
Will Europe’s just transition pilot support locals in Slovakia?
February 20, 2020 | Read more
A just transition for Slovakia’s Upper Nitra is already underway. But turning plans into projects which can actually bring about this transition will be no easy feat. One of the challenges ahead will be to ensure that there is both enough money invested in the region and a sufficient number of good quality projects–projects that don’t lock in carbon-intensive technologies–that support local people.
The Czech coal commission and its planned fossil fuels phase-out
February 19, 2020 | Read more
In 2018, the average temperature in the Czech Republic was 1.7 degrees higher than the average in 1981-2010. The summer was the hottest since 1961 and the drought was extreme – as described in the Czech Republic 2018 Report on the Environment prepared by the Ministry of the Environment. Prime Minister Andrej Babiš said that the Czech Republic is doing everything it can to protect the climate.
Estonia, the wild east of small nuclear reactors
February 10, 2020 | Read more
Over the past year a new player has aggressively joined the Estonian energy debate: Fermi Energy, a private company promising fourth generation small modular nuclear reactors (SMRs). The problem is that instead of solving the country’s energy and climate woes, the not-so-futuristic SMRs are creating new challenges.
Western Balkan countries are stuck in a loop of long, gloomy winters with extremely high air pollution. The number of times the air quality has exceeded the limit values over the last decade remains so high, that the very point of having those limit values is lost. In order to prevent episodes of air pollution that often reach values that are more than ten times above this limit, and to provide at least some level of protection for human health, additional urgent measures are required by the governments to supplement the long term strategies.
