Comply or Close 2025: Seven years of deadly legal breaches by Western Balkan coal plants

Report    |    17 June 2025

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The end of 2024 marked seven 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.

In 2024, total SO2 emissions from plants included in the National Emissions Reduction Plans (NERPs) of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, North Macedonia and Serbia were six times as high as allowed.

For the first time, Bosnia and Herzegovina’s NERP coal plants were the highest SO2 emitters in the region, with 212,840 tonnes, or 11.3 times as high as allowed.

Long-standing offender Ugljevik in Bosnia and Herzegovina was once again the highest-emitting unit of SO2 in the region in 2024, with 112,943 tonnes or 14 times as high as its individual ceiling.

Seven years after the Large Combustion Plants Directive compliance deadline passed in the Energy Community, not a single plant operator has been fined for these breaches.

This publication is also available in Albanian, Bosnian, Macedonian and Serbian.

Check the Comply or Close page for more information.