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
New report – deadly legal breaches by Western Balkan coal plants increased in 2022
June 28, 2023
In 2022, deadly air pollution from the Western Balkans’ coal power plants increased compared to 2021, according to the fifth edition of Bankwatch’s Comply or Close report, published today (1). Emissions of all three regulated pollutants – sulphur dioxide (SO2), dust and nitrogen oxides (NOx) grew, and for the first time, the region’s overall limit for NOx was breached.
Serbia: Complaints over illegal operation of Morava coal power plant
June 23, 2023
A complaint by the Renewables and Environmental Regulatory Institute (RERI) and CEE Bankwatch Network (1) challenging Serbia’s failure to comply with pollution control rules under the Energy Community Treaty was recorded yesterday by the the Energy Community Secretariat in Vienna (2).
280 million euros of North Macedonia’s public money going up in smoke
January 30, 2023
North Macedonia’s government, through the state-owned energy production company AD ESM, has spent hundreds of millions of euros on imports of coal, heavy oil and fossil gas to keep the country’s fragile energy system going during the energy crisis. The result is a significant increase in emissions of air pollutants and serious damage to the environment and public health.
Romania U-turns on decarbonisation to expand a lignite mine in Gorj and wipe out 106 hectares of forest
January 13, 2023
The Romanian government is again acting contrary to its EU commitments.
