Heating the heights: Žabljak’s bold move towards sustainable warmth
December 11, 2024
Perched 1,456 metres above sea level in the Durmitor National Park in Montenegro, Žabljak, the highest urban settlement in the Western Balkans, is looking for new heating solutions. A 2020 pre-feasibility suggested biomass, but determined to avoid air pollution and deforestation, the local authorities set out to find a better way forward.
Closing the door on waste incineration for district heating in central and eastern Europe
December 2, 2024
This issue paper underlines that Member States and public financing should align with EU principles and avoid investments that lock them into unsustainable practices like waste incineration.
Unfit for 55: How EU climate money is supporting gas-fired heating in Slovakia
October 3, 2024
Despite a marked drop in fossil-gas consumption, Slovakia supported district heating systems to run on fossil gas with EUR 55 million from the EU’s Modernisation Fund.
Repower the regions: How to make a heating and cooling plan for municipalities. A methodology for creating a sustainable and just plan for district heating decarbonisation
September 27, 2024
The methodology proposed in this study for local heating and cooling planning at the local level is supplemented by a set of specific legislative and regulatory recommendations at the state level.
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]
Western Balkans urged to embrace renewable energy for district heating
May 14, 2024
The city of Tuzla in Bosnia depends on the local coal-fired power plant for its district heating. / emirkrasnic via Pixabay
Communities leading the Western Balkans’ clean heating transition
May 8, 2024
Photo: Nataša kovačević
Open Letter on the Implementation of the RED in the European Union
April 29, 2024
In this letter, we urge the European Commission and Member States to explicitly exclude waste incineration from the scope of ‘waste heat’ targets in the RED, prioritize waste prevention and establish ambitious recycling target and invest in innovative technologies for clean energy generation and resource recovery.
Cleaning up District Heating: Best technologies and real-life examples
April 18, 2024
Intended for practitioners, policymakers, civil society and the energy sector, this brochure reviews various public financing options that can help enable the transition to clean district heating.
Bitola’s heating future: a pipeline to nowhere or solar solutions?
December 22, 2023
Bitola in North Macedonia is currently pursuing a decades-old district heating plan connected to the nearby coal power plant – which will, however, close in a few years. But better alternatives exist, as discussed at a recent event in the city, and young people, especially those involved in information sciences and technology, should play a key role in moving them forward.
