Renewable energy permitting in Bosnia and Herzegovina: how to optimise the process while safeguarding the environment and public participation
July 25, 2023
Investors complain about excessive administrative requirements to build wind farms, but the poorly-controlled proliferation of hydropower plants indicates a dearth of environmental and social safeguards. How can sustainable renewables be built quickly enough while protecting nature and ensuring public participation?
Renewable energy permitting in Bosnia and Herzegovina: how to optimise the process while safeguarding the environment and public participation
July 25, 2023
This analysis begins with an overview of the permits required for building renewable energy facilities in the two entities of Bosnia and Herzegovina: the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (FBiH) and Republika Srpska (RS).
European Green Deal – workshop for NGOs
June 28, 2023
The event was dedicated to NGOs focused on the European Green Deal (EGD) and European funds. It aimed to provide representatives of civil society, particularly members of monitoring committees, with crucial knowledge of EU funds and their alignment with the EGD.
No recovery without citizens: why public involvement is key to Europe’s green transformation
June 20, 2023
The report has been written in the frame of the Citizens Observatory for Green Deal Financing project. It brings together the direct experience of nine different civil society organisations and includes seven individual case studies providing information from the ground.
Upper Horizons hydropower scheme, Bosnia and Herzegovina
June 14, 2023
A series of dams, diversion tunnels, hydropower plants and channels will completely change the natural hydrology of eastern Herzegovina and have unpredictable impacts on wetlands, rivers and underground karst.
Ulog and Upper Neretva hydropower plants, Bosnia and Herzegovina
June 14, 2023
A 35 MW hydropower plant is currently under construction on a pristine section of the Neretva river at Ulog. Seven more plants are also planned further upstream.
Garden of Eden or desert? Water retention in the Great Hungarian Plain and the Recovery Facility
June 5, 2023
The 2022 drought demonstrated what experts have known for years, that Europe’s next crisis will be water. Ill-considered water management practices, damming, irrigation, and overuse of subsurface water have damaged entire landscapes on our continent.
Skavica hydropower plant, Albania
April 28, 2023
Instead of increasing its energy security, Albania is pushing the construction of yet more hydropower. The Skavica project may flood several villages, displace thousands of people and bring the Balkan lynx to extinction
EU’s house bank breached environmental standards on Serbia hydropower project
April 14, 2023
The European Investment Bank (EIB) breached its environmental standards during the approval of the Komalj small hydropower plant in Serbia, the Bank’s Complaint Mechanism has concluded, in a report published today. (1)
Activists call on EU to better protect nature from energy infrastructure in the Western Balkans, Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova
March 14, 2023
60 civil society organisations have sent a joint letter to the EU Commissioner for Environment, Virginijus Sinkevičius, calling on the EU to better protect nature during energy infrastructure development under the Energy Community Treaty (1).
