• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer

Bankwatch

  • About us
    • Our vision
    • Who we are
    • 30 years of Bankwatch
    • Donors & finances
    • Get involved
  • What we do
    • Campaign areas
      • Beyond fossil fuels
      • Rights, democracy and development
      • Finance and biodiversity
      • Funding the energy transformation
      • Cities for People
    • Institutions we monitor
      • European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
      • European Investment Bank
      • Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank
      • Asian Development Bank (ADB)
      • EU funds
    • Our projects
    • Success stories
  • Publications
  • News
    • Blog posts
    • Press releases
    • Stories
    • Podcast
    • Us in the media
    • Videos
  • Русский
Home > Press release > Bosnia-Herzegovina settlement agreement shows coal plant environmental assessment is illegal

Bosnia-Herzegovina settlement agreement shows coal plant environmental assessment is illegal

The Bosnia and Herzegovina authorities and the Energy Community Secretariat have signed a settlement agreement regarding the environmental impact assessment for the planned Ugljevik III coal-fired power plant, in which Bosnia and Herzegovina committed not to use the environmental permit issued as a result of the procedure. [1]

29 November 2018

The tacit admission that the environmental assessment procedure was illegal came as Bosnia and Herzegovina was about to be declared non-compliant with the Energy Community Treaty at today’s Ministerial Council meeting in Skopje. The Ministerial decision was to be the final step in a dispute settlement process initiated by the Energy Community Secretariat based on a complaint from the Center for Environment from Banja Luka in 2014.[2]

The Ugljevik III project is promoted by a little-known company called Comsar Energy Republika Srpska, headed by Russian billionaire Rashid Sardarov.[3] It has proceeded slowly in recent years and media reports have raised questions about its viability.[4]

The complaint by Center for Environment outlined how the EU’s Directive on Environmental Impact Assessment – binding for Bosnia and Herzegovina under the Energy Community Treaty – has been violated by failure to include in the plant’s environmental study many of the important elements needed to assess its likely impact on the environment, such as CO2 emissions and heavy metal pollution to air.

Most alarmingly, the data on emissions of SO2, NOx and dust from the plant are demonstrably false.

However this was not picked up by the Ministry approving the study, meaning that the authorities did not adhere to Republika Srpska law or Bosnia and Herzegovina’s obligations under the Energy Community Treaty to adhere to EU law on environmental impact assessments.

The environmental permit for Ugljevik III has already been overturned once by the Republika Srpska high court in 2017. But instead of using the opportunity to ensure a compliant environmental assessment was carried out, in July 2017 the Republika Srpska authorities issued a new permit without any additional analysis.

Center for Environment is also challenging the 2017 environmental permit in court in Bosnia and Herzegovina for its failure to assess transboundary pollution, draw up an emergency plan in case of serious accidents, or assess the planned coal storage depot in a sufficient level of detail.

“It’s a mystery why it has taken nearly four years and an international investigation for the Republika Srpska authorities to admit the very clear deficiencies of the Ugljevik III environmental assessment, but it is very welcome that it has finally happened. This would be an excellent opportunity to drop this outdated and polluting project altogether,” commented Duška Kudra of Center for Environment.

 

For additional information please contact:

Nataša Crnković
President, Center for Environment
Tel: +387(0)51 433 142
natasa.crnkovic@czzs.org

Pippa Gallop
CEE Bankwatch Network
pippa.gallop@bankwatch.org
Skype: pippa.gallop
Mob: +385 99 755 9787

 

Notes for editors:

[1] For the official announcement, see: https://energy-community.org/news/Energy-Community-News/2018/011/28a.html

[2] Center for Environment’s complaint is here: https://bankwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/complaint-EnCom-Ugljevik-16Dec2014.pdf

[3] http://comsar.com/

[4] See eg. Capital.ba: Ako se ne produži koncesija Serdarov odustaje od TE “Ugljevik 3”, 09.08.2018 http://www.capital.ba/serdarov-odustaje-od-te-ugljevik-3/

Never miss an update

We expose the risks of international public finance and bring critical updates from the ground – straight to your inbox.





Project: Coal in the Balkans | Ugljevik III lignite power plant, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Tags: Environmental Impact Assessment

Footer

CEE Bankwatch Network gratefully acknowledges EU funding support.

The content of this website is the sole responsibility of CEE Bankwatch Network and can under no circumstances be regarded as reflecting the position of the European Union.

Unless otherwise noted, the content on this website is licensed under a Creative Commons BY-SA 4.0 License

Your personal data collected on the website is governed by the present Privacy Policy.

Get in touch with us

  • Bluesky
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • RSS
  • YouTube