2015-11-30
STANARI - While the Western Balkans have a widely untapped potential for green energy, Balkan governments like Serbia, Kosovo and Bosnia-Herzegovina are locking national energy systems into outdated and heavily polluting coal infrastructures for decades to come.
Despite governments' official pledges to turn away from financing new coal projects, international lenders such as the World Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) are continuing to support local governments in modernising and thus expanding the outdated coal sector.
In addition, many Western Balkan governments have found a new investor in Asia: Chinese state banks are lending large sums to construct new coal facilities; Chinese companies are already busy building additional plant capacities – which means that local labour markets lose out.
While new investments in dirty coal may pay off for Balkan governments in the short term, they carry enormous financial and political risks in the long term. While decades of coal burning are already draining state coffers, the health and environmental costs are set to rise dramatically.
Supported
€8,025 allocated on 15/09/2014ID
ECB/2014/231Tags
NEWSPAPER
- Die schlimmste Dreckschleuder Europas (DE) - Stuttgarter Zeitung, 7 April 2016
- Leben am Abgrund (DE) - Berliner Zeitung, 2nd February 2016
ONLINE
- Budućnost je crna: Hvali sunce, drži se uglja (SR) - Biznis & Finansije, 15th December 2015
- Gradnja novih elektrana na ugalj u zemljama regije (BIH) - Start Magazine, 11th December 2015
- "In unserem Land geht es ums Überleben" (DE) - Wiener Zeitung, 30th November 2015
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