A quarter of all coal-related pollution in Europe could be caused by just two power plants, one in Serbia and the other in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
A quarter of all coal-related pollution in Europe could be caused by just two power plants, one in Serbia and the other in Bosnia and Herzegovina — located in the coal-burning sector., one in Serbia and the other in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The warning is contained in the report "Chronic coal pollution"e pubblicato nel contesto della campagna "Europe beyond coal" e promosso dalle ong Heal (Health and environment alliance), Sandbag, Climate action network (Can) Europe e Cee Bankwatch Network.
The western Balkans region, as Maria Giulia Anceschi explains in an article published on Osservatorio Balcani & Caucaso (Obc), ranks among the worst in Europe for air pollution caused by fossil fuels: the two coal-fired power plants of Kostolac B in Serbia and Ugljevik in Bosnia and Herzegovina are said to cause the premature deaths of thousands of people: specifically, the report refers to 1,239 deaths in 2016 alone, in the western Balkans alone, with a cost to public healthcare estimated at between 2 and 4 billion euros.
This pollution has a greater impact in some cases on neighbouring states: 2,013 deaths occurred across the European Union in 2016, with an impact on public healthcare costs approaching 6 billion in the worst-affected countries, among which Croatia and Romania are cited. Healthcare systems are having to deal with serious respiratory and cardiovascular problems in both adults and children: these are health damages caused by exposure, both short- and long-term, to pollutants arising from the combustion of coal, including particulate matter, sulphur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen oxides (NO2).
As Anceschi reports, in the ranking of the most polluting power plants, eight out of ten are located in the Western Balkans: Obc writes that a single coal-fired power plant in this area emits quantities of SO2 and particulate matter twenty times higher than a plant on European Union territory. The Kostolac B and Ugljevik plants produce more than half of the sulphur dioxide of all the Western Balkans, and 16 coal facilities have polluted as much as 250 power plants in the European Union. The situation is made worse by the lack of installations to remove SO2 (desulphurisation technologies) and by non-functioning equipment.
As if that were not enough, while at a continental level many states are aiming to phase out coal-fired electricity generation by 2030 (among them Finland, Denmark, Norway, the United Kingdom), companies such as the state-owned Elektroprivreda Srbije are even planning an expansion of the Kostolac B power plant, contracted out to Cmec (China Machinery Engineering Corporation) and financed by the Chinese bank EximBank. Several environmental groups (including the Clean Air Movement in Bosnia and Herzegovina) are calling for greater implementation of renewable energy and a change to the regulatory framework. Meanwhile, in Serbia, a number of doctors have circulated a petition calling for a reduction in air pollution, which causes cardiovascular and respiratory diseases.
According to calculations by Seermap (South East Europe electricity roadmap), the Balkans have high decarbonisation potential and significant scope for reducing polluting emissions: if developed, renewable energies – solar and wind in particular – could eliminate 85 per cent of electricity generated from fossil fuel combustion by 2050. Energy security could help bring the Balkans closer to the European Union, which at the same time should prioritise the fight against pollution through stricter directives, above all by raising awareness and, where necessary, challenging those who still see the transition to clean energy as a threat to short-term profits.