Comply or close: how Western Balkan coal plants breach air pollution laws and what governments must do about it
December 10, 2019
In 2018, pollution control legislation under the Energy Community Treaty finally obliged the Western Balkan countries to start reducing the choking air pollution from their coal power plants. Action was badly needed. In 2016, these 16 plants emitted as
Trading profit for health: exploring Bosnia’s toxic relationship with coal
December 6, 2019
Source: Trading profit for health: exploring Bosnia’s toxic relationship with coal
North Macedonia: coal exit welcome, but no excuse for ecosystem destruction
December 5, 2019
Two out of three scenarios in the country’s groundbreaking draft Energy Strategy foresee a coal exit by 2025 – excellent news in a country traditionally dominated by coal-fired electricity. But the Strategy’s plans for hydropower are unrealistic, writes Nevena Smilevska.
Expansion of largest coal mine in Romania stopped, following Bankwatch court case
October 23, 2019
Bucharest – A Bucharest court blocked the expansion of Rosia, the largest coal mine in Romania located in Gorj county, following a legal challenge to the mine’s environmental permit lodged by Bankwatch Romania.
In Estonia, taming the IT tiger
September 26, 2019
In parallel to the UN Climate Summit, Bankwatch sends our experts on Just Transition to Estonia to share with locals the experience from coal mining countries that have started to develop action plans for regions that would need to go through re-development due to coal phase-out.
The transformation action plan for the Slovakia’s Upper Nitra coal region
September 24, 2019
The aim of this study is to describe the process by which local communities participated in the Transformation Action Plan of Coal Region Upper Nitra and to propose concrete steps towards the better integration of the local communities in order to achi
Just transition in Hunedoara: economic diversification in a fair and sustainable manner
September 23, 2019
NGOs Greenpeace and Bankwatch Romania launched a new report outlining scenarios for the post-coal development of Romania’s best known coal region, Jiu Valley, highlighting job growth and economic development without coal is very much possible in the re
A New Year’s resolution for Novaci – clean air
January 15, 2019
Macedonia made headlines in December when the United Nations ranked its capital city, Skopje, as the most polluted capital city in Europe. If the ranking included non-capitals, it would not miss Novaci – a small village in the country’s south that also gasps for breath.
UN-Klimakonferenz in Kattowitz: Morgenluft im Kohleland
December 14, 2018
Ausgerechnet im Kohlerevier um Kattowitz richtet der Gastgeber Polen die UN-Klimakonferenz aus. Gelingt dort der Strukturwandel? Source: UN-Klimakonferenz in Kattowitz: Morgenluft im Kohleland
Activist: Poland’s ‘just transition’ declaration is just posturing
December 14, 2018
The just transition declaration adopted at the COP24 in Poland sounds good but it is not connected to any kind of climate ambition or specific energy projects involving local communities, Alexandru Mustata told EURACTIV Slovakia. Source: Activist: Pola
