How can the EBRD maximise its leverage to bring about decarbonisation?
June 19, 2018
The economic viability of coal is ever decreasing. Without public financial support many coal investments are doomed to fail. Yet several institutions are still willing to finance an energy source that wrecks our climate, damages our health and wastes
Bulgarian authorities, forced to think about Just Transition
June 15, 2018
The closure of the largest underground mine in Bulgaria, Bobov Dol in the southwest of the country, means Bulgarian authorities are finally forced to think about Just Transition.
The European Commission’s platform for coal regions in transition: case studies highlight tilt toward coal companies
June 5, 2018
Without adhering to the partnership principle, the Platform for Coal Regions in Transition risks benefiting coal companies at the expense of local communities, in blatant contradiction to its stated goal. In Poland and Slovakia, lack of transparency an
The energy sector in Romania
May 18, 2018
Even though Romania traditionally had the third lowest energy import dependency rate in the European Union, due to natural gas and oil reserves and an oversized power generation sector, since 2019 the country has shifted from electricity exporter to ne
China, the Western Balkans and the EU: Can three tango?
May 17, 2018
With China pouring loans into the Western Balkans, the EU must step in to ensure this money benefits the region, writes Wawa Wang.
Rovinari unit 7, Romania
May 16, 2018
CANCELLED: The Romanian Government has been negotiating for several years with the Chinese Government to build a new 600 MW unit at the lignite power plant in Rovinari, Gorj County. The new unit would be built on the site of Units 1 and 2, currently decommissioned. A new up and running plant would pollute the whole region for at least 40 more years, a coal plant’s average lifespan.
Chinese-financed coal projects in Southeast Europe
May 15, 2018
Several EU enlargement countries in the Western Balkans – as well as EU member states Romania and Greece – plan to build new lignite power plants. In contrast, the EU aims to decarbonise its energy sector by 2050, most EU countries no longer build new
Gacko II, Bosnia and Herzegovina
May 15, 2018
The Republika Srpske government plans to build a new 350 MW lignite power plant in Gacko, near the town’s existing plant. After years of stagnation, in August 2022 it was reported that the Czech company Witkowitz was considering investing in the project.
Kamengrad lignite power plant, Bosnia-Herzegovina
May 15, 2018
An idea to build a power plant at the open-cast Kamengrad coal mine near Sanski Most in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina has been around for years, but in November 2017 it took a step forward with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between Energy China International and the construction supplier Lager d.o.o. for a 2 x 215 MW plant.
The loan that made sense until it didn’t
May 11, 2018
During the annual meetings of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the bank is the subject of a complaint for policy violations via a EUR 200 million loan to Serbia’s state-owned energy utility: money earmarked to prepare the fossil fuels-based company for the realities of adhering to stricter EU legislation will instead enable it to extract and burn even more fossil fuels.
