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Protests spread in Western Balkans along with air pollution

On Saturday hundreds marched in the centre of Tuzla to protest worsening air quality in the coal-dominated town of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s north-east, carrying banners that read “Clean air, not cancer!” and “Stop poisoning us!” .

As the legal limits for pollutants PM2.5 (fine particles) and SO2 were breached during this long winter, the Clean Air Movement – a group of citizens living in Tuzla concerned about the worsening health condition as a result of air pollution exposure – took to the streets to demand that authorities find long-term solutions to this ever-present problem.

The air quality in Tuzla is notorious, ranked second by the World Health Organisation among Europe’s most polluted towns in 2017. The news echoed far and wide and was reported on by the BBC, Arte TV and RAI.

In 2017 Bankwatch’s independent dust metering (PM10 and PM2.5) revealed worsening levels of emissions compared to the same period in 2016, which is particularly worrying given that the year was much warmer, so in theory the need would be less for individual house-hold heating – the scape goat used by authorities.

These findings have been used by locals to argue that source of the pollution is the town’s 715 MW power plant, which burns approximately 3.8 million tons of brown coal and lignite a year. A striking observation in both 2016 and 2017 independent monitoring periods is the pattern of emissions skyrocketing as soon as it gets dark, after seven in the evening, suggesting that the dust filters at the Tuzla power plant are turned off during the night.

In spite of this, a new unit is planned by the state owned energy company, Elektroprivreda BiH, which signed a financing agreement with China Exim Bank in November 2017. The 450 MW proposed Tuzla 7 project would require additional coal capacity.

The new unit would only replace two of the four current units, increasing the overall capacity and perpetuating the particulate matter pollution attributed to coal mining and the coal ash deposit. Regardless of how modern and efficient the new unit may be, coal mining and ash storage will not decrease.

Our 2017 monitoring results, based on an analysis of wind direction, show exactly that PM 10 levels were much higher in 2017 than in 2016, pointing more towards the ash dump and the mine, rather than to combustion processes (either the power plant or traffic, normally responsible for PM2.5 emissions and less so than PM10).

Tuzla 7 promoters claim that the new unit would be in line with EU pollution standards, but the project’s environmental permit clearly suggests the project will not meet the recently-adopted Best Available Techniques (BAT) . Rather, the project is much more likely to result in an increase of coal that would need to be mined and an increase in ash production, which, as seen above, plays a critical role in aggravating local air pollution.

Local opposition to a new ash disposal site is high as well, with the local community representatives delivered a petition with 2100 signatures against the proposal to the Federal Ministry of Environment and Tourism in April 2016.

With a growing citizens’ movements against industrial pollution in the Western Balkans and increasing evidence that coal power plants carry much of the blame, the region deserves an energy transition away from coal, as well as a real consultation with the public. Authorities need to act on the locals’ concerns when planning for the development of the country’s energy sector, a process now underway in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Bulgaria’s EU presidency off to rocky start, as protests highlight EU funds for nature destruction

For almost two months now,  Bulgarians from across the country and abroad have taken to the streets to defend the country’s natural mountainscape against new developments.

At stake is the Pirin National Park, home to bears, chamois, wolves and centuries-old pine forests whose unique value has won it the status of a World Heritage site.

What sparked the protests was a government decision from 28 December 2017. This decision seeks to change the park’s management plan and effectively opens the door to new development, commercial construction and logging of up to 48 percent of the park’s 400 square kilometres territory. But our protesters are not only about Pirin – these are about democracy and about ending corruption.

About 15 years ago ago the ski lift and new ski runs were allowed in the National Park. The company involved performed a number of illegal developments on the Park territory without being ever fined for polluted river, illegal logging, building illegal ski runs and a huge reservoir lake, etc. People fear that the new plan is just a pre-text for another massive destruction of the mountain.

The current management plan only allows for construction in 0.6 percent of the park’s territory, but with the changes approved a massive extension is now possible. A ski resort located in the nearby town of Bansko is already encroaching on Pirin’s mountainous forests, but the owners have future plans for expansion. The current concessioner has already gone beyond the allowed territory of the concession with an estimate of 60 per cent.

The park’s management plan is funded with EUR 10 million from the previous EU budget period (2007-2017), and both the parks authority and the Bansko municipality are beneficiaries of EU funds. It is especially worrying that the European Commission has permitted EU funding for environmental destruction, given how poor is the state of infrastructure in the town of Bansko.

Za Zemiata and other civil society groups have already warned that the park’s new management plan could allow, not only for further development of the ski resort at the expense of the vulnerable natural habitats that are part of the World Heritage site, but also for clear cutting of centuries old forest and thus endangering protected species.

The government has repeatedly tried to argue that it’s local residents who stand to gain from this development. But there is a growing recognition among the public that the ultimate beneficiaries would in fact be the current concessioner and big hotels.

The once small, picturesque town of Bansko is already littered with construction works, ghost houses that stand empty throughout most of the year, and water pollution that the local residents believe originates from the artificial snow used in the ski resort.

In fact, the media in Bulgaria hardly reported on the issue until it received considerable international attention. That is why protesters, who wanted to ensure the government does not ignore their call, felt they need to be particularly creative and organised flashmobs, marathons, music concerts, art installations and even meditation sessions.

The inauguration of Bulgaria’s EU Presidency on January 11 was met with an escalation of the protests when over 8,000 people marched on the streets of Sofia and more in towns across the country and throughout Europe. Rallies took place even in Australia and Tanzania to join the calls to protect the Pirin national park.

Protesters now gathering in Sofia every Thursday have developed a set of demands from Bulgarian policymakers. They urge the government to withdraw its decision on the park’s management plan, they demand the resignation of the infamous climate sceptic environment minister Neno Dimov, and they want full transparency about the concession contract including the identity of the real owner of the ski resort.

New demands were added following the visit of the co-chair of the European Green Party Ska Keller in Bulgaria last week. She joined the Thursday night protest and visited local communities in both the Kresna gorge (another biodiversity hotspot threatened by plans for a motorway) and Bansko. But in response, Bulgaria’s nationalist Deputy Prime Minister published a statement insulting the German MEP and threatening to expel her.

But the protesters are not backing away. In the latest Thursday rally, in front of the Ministry of Environment and Waters, protesters also demanded government stops the proposed changes to both the Forest law, which would allow for opening up the forests to cutting and construction, and the law on protection of agricultural lands, which could make development in such areas much easier than it is now. Speakers at the demonstration also called for an investigation into the over-construction of the Black Sea coast.

Leaving Paris, the European Investment Bank steps on the gas

By revising its energy lending criteria in 2012, the European Investment Bank (EIB) has limited its support for fossil fuels projects in the energy sector and effectively eliminated the most polluting power plants from its portfolio, most notably those burning coal.

The move has been welcomed but is still far behind what is needed to limit global temperature rise to no more than 1.5°C. To reach this goal, no more fossil fuel infrastructure should be built at all, according to a 2016 Oil Change International study.

However, fossil fuels and especially gas still play a big role in the energy portfolio of the EU’s house bank. As a recent Bankwatch briefing on the EIB’s gas lending between 2013-2016 shows, gas projects received nearly EUR 10 billion in total during this period. In 2017 the EIB continued supporting gas transmission and distribution networks with over EUR 1.5 billion.

And this may not be the full picture of the bank’s investments in gas infrastructure, since additional funds may be channeled through intermediary banks and investment funds. For example, almost 2000 kilometers of gas and oil pipelines were constructed or renewed in 2016 with the support of a guarantee from the European Fund for Strategic Investments through intermediated loans for small and medium enterprises and mid-caps.

  2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
Gas transmission and distribution (including storage, smart metering and LNG) 1827.4 1593 2056.6 1255.5 1517.2
Gas-fired power plants 173.3 250 664.5 105 0
Gas exploration 200 1280 200 0 0
Total 2200.7 3123 2921.1 1360.5 1517.2

EIB support to gas projects (in EUR million), 2013-2017

 

Since the EIB’s annual lending to fossil fuels peaked at EUR 5 billion in 2010, a year after the Copenhagen summit debacle, it has halved to an annual average of over EUR 2 billion between 2013 and 2017. The year after the Paris Agreement saw the most dramatic decline in EIB support to gas when the gas-related loan volume decreased by more than half.

But last week, as it approved its largest ever energy loan for the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP), the EIB has effectively reversed what would have otherwise been an encouraging trend. At EUR 1.5 billion, this loan alone is nearly as large as the EIB’s entire support for gas projects in 2017.

Passing through Greece, Albania and the Adriatic Sea before reaching shore in Southern Italy, TAP is the western section of the gargantuan Southern Gas Corridor project, a 3500 kilometre chain of pipelines from Azerbaijan to Europe. The project is designed to annually pump 10 billion cubic meters of gas to Europe starting 2020 and has been heavily promoted by the European Commission in spite of studies confirming that no additional gas is needed to satisfy Europe’s gas demand.

Moreover, a study released two weeks ago finds that due to fugitive methane emissions, the Southern Gas Corridor project is likely to have a climate footprint that is even worse than power generated from coal that is widely considered the dirtiest fossil fuel.

Just when the urgency to tackle the climate crisis becomes ever clearer, investments in gas infrastructure perpetuate rather than eliminate fossil fuels dependency, and crowd out renewables and energy efficiency projects. By green-lighting this massive loan for TAP, the European Investment Bank has stepped on the gas on Europe’s way to irreversible climate damage.

[Campaign update] More EBRD cash for Georgia dams should be cautionary tale for other development banks

On 31 January the EBRD approved a loan of USD 214 million and USD 15 million in equity for construction of the Nenskra hydro power plant. It is a disappointing decision for those who care about the rights of local communities and about the people of Svaneti . The board had been made well aware of the incomplete environmental and social impact assessments, about the flawed project consultation, conflicts with the Bern Convention and the concerns of local people about natural hazards like lands slides. And yet they listen to bank staff and believe the arguements of the project sponsor arguments that these issues can be addressed later.

What will happen if those issues are not properly addressed? Will Svans in the Nenskra and Nakra valleys be able to hold accountable the EBRD and those responsible for the project? Locals have no reason to believe in the Georgian court system, and it is not surprising that the EBRD, together with other development banks, is fiercely opposed to any suggestion that their actions could be reviewed by independent courts. However bad this decision, it does not mean that we will stop looking to explore new avenues for redress, including those within the EU.

There are still another four development banks yet to decide on the Nenskra project – including the EIB on Tuesday 5 February – and it will be interesting to see how much their boards will honour the policies of their respective institutions and insist that staff ensures that these policies are fully applied before an investment decision on the project is made.

As pollution blankets Pristina, so do protests

“Hazardous” is the name of the protest, as has been the level of particulate matter (PM2.5) pollution throughout the last month. Just this morning, the measured air quality index (AQI) stood at 235 units, or 185 micrograms/m3, worse than Beijing and New Delhi otherwise famous for their lack of air quality. This is no less than 7.4 times the recommended World Health Organisation’s upper limit for the 24-hour average for PM.25, of 25 μg/m3

Locals of Pristina have been complaining since the beginning of the year about worsening conditions, which so far has led to the adoption of an emergency action plan, to be implemented by the local police. In yesterday’s meeting between the Pristina Municipality and the Ministry of Environment and Spatial Planning, it was decided that the emergency response to the extremely unhealthy levels of pollution would be limiting the access of cars to the city between certain times of the day (6-9 AM and 4-10PM).

Restrictions on traffic in city centres have been growing in popularity in many European capitals and large cities, but it is not a silver bullet solution. Particularly not in the case of Pristina, where there is a much bigger elephant in the room. According to a 2016 report, the old and polluting Kosovo A and B lignite power plants create up to 352 EUR million per year in annual health costs, and Kosovo A is the Western Balkan region’s biggest emitter of PM2.5 – fine dust particles so small they enter blood stream and pulmonary alveoli. Moreover, the plant should have been closed in 2018, according to a commitment towards the European Commission. However, the Kosovar authorities are now linking the decommissioning of Kosovo A to the construction of Kosovo C, and give 2022 as closing date in their newest Energy Strategy.

Plans to build Kosovo C have been around for over a decade, starting out as a planned 2000 MW unit that would turn the country into the leading energy exporter for the Balkans. In December, Kosovo has signed a contract with the only bidder in the tender – power generator ContourGlobal to build a 500-megawatt (MW). This means decades of pollution lock-in for a country that is overly reliant on coal for its electricity production, which civil society in Kosovo and Bankwatch have warned for years.

While authorities often chose the easy option of traffic restrictions in response to air pollution crisis, such as the one taking place now in Pristina, our independent measurements of particulate matter pollution in the region has already demonstrated twice (in Tuzla and in Gacko, in Bosnia and Herzegovina) that high peaks in emissions are generated by coal facilities, either power plants or coal open-cast mines, or both.

Pristina is now joining other towns in the Balkans, such as Skopje, Zenica, Pljevlja and Tuzla, where massive protests against worsening air quality have been organised in the past few years. Every winter, these towns face the same problem of heavily polluted air, and residents are increasingly concerned about the health implications. Only a joint effort of these countries to introduce and enforce strict emissions control legislation in the Energy Community Treaty would set the tone for a unified approach to tackle a problem that affects millions yearly.

The renovation will be televised: Latvia’s energy efficiency programme for multi-apartment buildings

The massive housing stock from the second part of the twentieth century needs a fundamental upgrade in terms of materials, utilities and modes of ownership. The EU-funded programmes for energy efficiency in Latvia is intended to meet the growing demand for renovation, yet its lengthy implementation and limited scope exposes the disproportionately large amount of buildings in poor conditions.

‘The Great Wall of China’ is a nickname for a 500 metre-long block of roughly 400 flats that house about 1000 people in one of Riga’s large-scale residential areas. The epithet connotes the distorted relationship of scale and size inherent in Soviet architecture, marking its tradition of social divides, alienation and emptied open spaces. In September 2017, the building was in the spotlight because of an event to raise public support for EU-funded energy efficiency measures.

A state-owned development financial institution – ALTUM – and the Ministry of Economy manage the implementation of the energy efficiency improvements for the multi-apartment buildings, with financing provided by the EU’s European Regional and Development Fund. These EU funds are the largest share of the state budget available for co-financing energy efficiency measures in the mixed-ownership residential sector. During the budget period for 2014-2020, around 1000 projects totalling more than EUR 176 million EUR are planned.

According to the Ministry of Economics, 20 000 buildings urgently need improved energy efficiency performance (deep renovation), which would cost an estimated EUR 5 billion. Yet the implementation of renovation and energy efficiency measures is rather slow, given the amount of housing units across the country.

So the story of one massive building draws attention to the many obstacles encountered in renovation projects. Technical improvements usually bring about better energy performance, and the costs are covered by a decrease in utility bills. However, there is often no agreement among the many owners of multi-apartment buildings about how to proceed with a project application. To receive public funding for up to 50 per cent of selected project expenses, complex contracts are needed to define the obligations of all parties involved.

‘Let’s live warmer!’ is the leading informational campaign from the Ministry of Economics about energy efficiency initiated in 2010 to coincide with the previous EU-funded energy efficiency programme to renovate 760 multi-apartment buildings. Over the last few years, ‘Let’s live warmer!’ has convened a number of presentations, publications and discussions devoted to promoting the renovation processes and procedures in Latvia.

This outreach to diverse social groups of homeowners offers two insights: a public resistant to self-organisation for achieving progress and an administration enacting complex technical procedures. At the same time, housing and maintenance firms, construction companies, engineers, banks, and managers are as well dominant actors in these schemes, and the links between the disintegrating built structures and public funding for their improvement must be established in spite of different interests, resources and capabilities.

The first successful renovation project in 2017 was a five-story house in the Kurzeme region. It was the last one in a group of five now well-insulated buildings. To see remote places connected in an effective way does not always need government involvement. The housing company that coordinated the projects attributes its success to evidence-based persuasion methods and direct social interaction among neighbours.

Motivations to join renovation projects are varied, and the demand for better and more accessible funding schemes is growing. Yet the dominance of inefficient buildings, fixed expenses and rigid energy consumption patterns are a major problem, as are tight administrative burdens and social inequality. Through the efforts of civil society and others, resilient and more efficient cities are possible, but also more difficult because of the old and new walls that make up the economic and built structures in the shared experience of common good.