Comply or Close 2024: six years of deadly legal breaches by Western Balkan coal plants
September 17, 2024
The end of 2023 marked six years since the deadline passed for power plants in the Western Balkans to meet new air pollution standards. Yet the deadly air pollution from the region’s mostly antiquated coal power plants has hardly decreased at all since 2018.
From quantity to quality: how to improve the infrastructure project selection process under the Western Balkans Investment Framework
August 29, 2024
The Western Balkans Investment Framework provides finance and technical assistance for investments, particularly in infrastructure, energy efficiency and private sector development.
Environmental NGOs demand halt to KfW controversial biomass investments in Serbia
July 29, 2024
41 environmental organisations from the Western Balkans, Germany, and across Europe have called on German state-owned development bank KfW to stop financing wood biomass energy in Serbia in order to avoid forest degradation risks and locking Serbia into further dependency on high-carbon energy sources.[1]
A race to the top: Western Balkans 2024
July 16, 2024
A report by Global Energy Monitor, CEE Bankwatch Network and REScoop.eu reveals the Western Balkans have more than 23 GW of proposed utility-scale solar and wind projects—almost 70 per cent more than a year ago.
Air pollution in Ugljevik, Bosnia and Herzegovina
March 27, 2024
Ugljevik lignite-fired power plant, located in Republika Srpska, an entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina, is notorious Europe-wide for its extremely high emissions of sulphur dioxide into the air. Despite the exceptionally high stack of the power plant, the town of Ugljevik is still suffering from serious air pollution.
The EU’s proposed Reform and Growth Facility for the Western Balkans
March 7, 2024
This briefing provides key recommendations to define clearer and narrower goals for the Reform and Growth Facility for the Western Balkans, focusing on social and/or environmental goals.
The Western Balkans residential Green Economy Financing Facility: Results so far and recommendations for further action
January 31, 2024
This briefing assesses the effectiveness of the energy efficiency credit lines for households financed through the Green Economy Financing Facility, in terms of environmental sustainability and attractiveness for users in all six Western Balkan countries.
Western Balkans decarbonisation is urgent: but the EU enlargement package is still sending mixed signals
November 10, 2023
The European Commission’s annual reports on the Western Balkan countries’ EU accession progress vary considerably on decarbonisation, sending mixed messages on coal and especially gas. The EU needs to take a more consistent approach if the region is to achieve decarbonisation by 2050 at the latest.
Bosnia and Herzegovina’s draft NECP: The good, the bad and the ugly
July 20, 2023
Bosnia and Herzegovina’s draft NECP finally looks to the future, plans no new fossil fuel power plants and significantly scales back unrealistic hydropower plans. But existing coal plants are to keep operating illegally and the draft is furtive about coal-to-biomass plans.
Comply or Close 2023: five years of deadly legal breaches by Western Balkan coal plants
June 28, 2023
The end of 2022 marked five years since new air pollution standards entered into force in the Western Balkans on 1 January 2018. Yet the deadly air pollution from the region’s mostly antiquated coal power plants has hardly decreased at all. In fact, in 2022 it increased compared to 2021 for all three regulated pollutants
