In 2024, Western Balkan governments’ chronic law enforcement failures allowed sulphur dioxide (SO2) pollution from the region’s antiquated coal power plants to exceed legal limits by six times, according to the seventh edition of Bankwatch’s Comply or Close report, published today (1). Dust and nitrogen oxides (NOx) pollution from coal plants also continued to exceed legal limits.
Seven years since pollution control rules came into force under the Energy Community Treaty, in 2024 sulfur dioxide emissions from coal plants included in the National Emissions Reduction Plans (NERPs)(2) of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo*, North Macedonia and Serbia were still collectively six times as high as allowed.
For the first time, Bosnia and Herzegovina’s NERP coal plants were the highest SO2 emitters, with 212,840 tonnes – an increase from the previous year and 11.3 times as high as allowed. Serbia followed, with 205,925 tonnes, or 4.6 times as high as allowed.
Region-wide, SO2 emissions have decreased only slightly since 2018. And the emissions limits were more stringent in 2024 than in previous years, leading to an even larger compliance gap.
At the level of individual plants, the largest emitter was the Nikola Tesla B power plant (blocks B1 and B2) with 76,631 tonnes, which is less than the previous year, but still 5.7 times above the individually determined contribution. As in 2023, TENT B remains the second largest emitter in the region, after Ugljevik in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
After the desulphurization plant in Kostolac B finally received its operating permit in January 2023, after years of delays and trial runs, it began to show some results in 2024, albeit unsatisfactory. In 2024, the plant was still emitting 2.3 times more tonnes than the NERP allows, raising serious concerns about the quality of the equipment and its operation.
Dust pollution from NERP coal plants in the region was nearly twice as high as allowed in 2024 (1.9 times the limit). Emissions dropped slightly from 2023 but remained similar to 2018 levels.
Nitrogen oxides pollution also totaled 1.4 times as much as allowed in the contracting parties’ NERPs in 2024, compared to 1.3 times in 2023. Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo* and Serbia all continued to breach their NOx limits, with Nikola Tesla B in Serbia emitting the most – 12,418 tonnes.
In addition to the NERP breaches, at the end of 2023, the deadline for closing the smallest and oldest plants under the ‘opt-out’ limited lifetime derogation expired. All three economies in the Western Balkans with coal power plants subject to this rule –including Serbia – are still breaching it, as none of the plants have closed.
The Morava and Kolubara thermal power plants had to be closed by the end of 2023, but they still continue to operate. The Energy Community Secretariat has opened several infringement-type cases against the contracting parties (3) but not a single government has imposed penalties on the coal plants in question. Nor do they have clear, updated and realistic plans for compliance and/or closure.
Davor Pehchevski, Balkan Energy Coordinator at Bankwatch – ‘In six months, the EU’s carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM) will finally limit exports of Western Balkan countries’ carbon-intensive electricity by imposing fees on imports to the EU. This will make their ageing, inefficient coal plants even less economic. But the Balkan governments and utilities seem oblivious, as if they have all the time in the world. Clear, workable plans are urgently needed.’
Mirko Popović, Program Director, RERI ‘Respecting the basic principles of the rule of law is essential for fulfilling the obligations from the Treaty establishing the Energy Community and achieving the pollution reduction goals in the Western Balkans. Business as usual, is unacceptable. Governments in the region should take responsibility for the implementation of the Large Combustion Plant Directive, and judicial authorities shall ensure its implementation. Moreover, it is essential that national parliaments play an active role in overseeing the implementation of the Energy Community Treaty, as the executive branch cannot be expected to supervise itself.”
Additional information:
- The report is available at ComplyOrClose.org
- As part of their obligations to comply with the Large Combustion Plants Directive under the Energy Community Treaty, four Western Balkan contracting parties – Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo*, North Macedonia and Serbia – have drawn up National Emission Reduction Plans (NERPs) covering the period from 2018 to 2027. Instead of requiring each large combustion plant to comply with the emission limit values from the Large Combustion Plants Directive from 1 January 2018, these plans allow the contracting parties to calculate national emissions ceilings for sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and dust, and to gradually decrease their total emissions from selected pre-1992 large combustion plants until 2027. In 2027, all the plants included in the NERPs will individually need to be in compliance not only with the emission limit values from the Large Combustion Plants Directive, but also with Part 1 of Annex V to Directive 2010/75/EU on Industrial Emissions.
- Due to the breaches of the NERP pollution limits, in March 2021 the Energy Community Secretariat opened dispute settlement cases against BiH, Kosovo*, North Macedonia and Serbia. In July 2023, the Energy Community Secretariat took further steps against Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo*, and North Macedonia, making a reasoned request to the Energy Community Ministerial Council to make decisions on the cases, which it did in December 2023. The case against Serbia remains open but has not escalated due to ongoing desulphurisation investments. Due to the breaches of the opt-out provisions, the Energy Community Secretariat also opened dispute settlement cases against Montenegro in April 2021, Bosnia and Herzegovina in October 2022, and Serbia in October 2023.
* This name is without prejudice to status and is in accordance with United Nations Security Council Resolution 1244 and the opinion of the International Court of Justice on the declaration of independence of Kosovo.