Comply or Close 2020
Report | 23 June 2020
The Western Balkans coal plants included in National Emissions Reduction Plans continue to emit 6 times the total sulphur dioxide (SO2) limit allowed under the Energy Community Treaty, two and a half years after these standards went into force, according to a new Bankwatch analysis.
Dust emissions from these power plants – in Serbia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo and North Macedonia – also remain at 1.6 times the combined threshold.
In 2016 alone, roughly 3900 people in the region and in neighbouring countries are estimated to have died as a result of chronic pollution from all existing coal plants.
The countries need to move away from coal power and into sustainable forms of renewable energy. But for those plants that need to remain open for a few more years, governments need to cut coal plants’ operating hours to bring air pollution to the legally binding limits under the Energy Community Treaty and boost investments in pollution control equipment.
This report is an update of an analysis released by Bankwatch late last year, now including 2019 data.