Coal plants in Western Balkans increase SO2 pollution in 2023

Coal-fired thermal power plants in the Western Balkans emitted more sulfur dioxide last year than in 2022, according to the Comply or Close report. The amount was 5.7 times higher than the legal limit. Dust pollution from facilities included in national emission reduction plans (NERPs) was 75% above the ceiling. Nitrogen oxide emissions came in 43% higher than allowed.

Pollution control rules under the Energy Community Treaty and national emissions reduction plans (NERPs) for coal power plants in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo*, North Macedonia and Serbia came into force six years ago. Their combined SO2 emissions in 2023 were 5.7 times higher than allowed, according to the report Comply or Close: Six years of deadly legal breaches by Western Balkan coal plants.

In comparison, the legal limit was exceeded by 5.6 times in 2022.

Benefits of desulfurization investments are doubtful

Data that CEE Bankwatch Network compiled in the document show Serbia’s NERP plant SO2 emissions increased year over year. However, a desulfurisation unit was commissioned at the Nikola Tesla A (TENT A) plant in April this year. One such system is under construction in TENT B, the second-worst emitter in the region in 2023.

​​Ugljevik in Bosnia and Herzegovina was at the top of the list in absolute terms, even though it includes a desulfurization unit. It cost EUR 85 million, but the system suffered technical difficulties and now the operator admits it is not working, partly because it is an economic burden, the report adds.

“Fellow repeat offender Kostolac B in Serbia had finally started to decrease its SO2 emissions in 2021, but has increased them since then, emitting nearly 5.8 times as much as allowed in 2023. Either the desulphurisation unit is not being used much, or it is underperforming,” the document reads.

Ugljevik and Kakanj 7 in BiH, REK Bitola 1 and 2 in North Macedonia and Kostolac A2 in Serbia exceeded their indicative ceilings for SO2 by more than 10 times.

Total PM, NOx emissions remain extremely high

Dust pollution from NERP coal plants across the region was 1.75 times as high as allowed, slightly less than in 2022. Kosovo*, BiH and North Macedonia again greatly exceeded their national ceilings for dust. The highest absolute emitter of dust or particulate matter (PM particles) was the Kosovo B2 unit. The level was 9.2 times above the ceiling.

The Gacko plant in BiH had the highest relative exceedance, emitting almost 10.7 times as much as allowed.

Nitrogen oxide pollution topped the legal limit by 43%. The ceiling is lowered every year. Kosovo* topped it by 2.73 times, the most in the region. BiH also breached its maximum allowed NOx emissions and, for the first time, so did Serbia.

All coal power units from expired opt-out scheme are still online

At the end of 2023, the deadline expired for closing the smallest and oldest plants under the so-called opt-out scheme in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and Serbia. But all the units are still working.

Montenegro’s Pljevlja plant has been running illegally since late 2020. In 2022 it was joined by Tuzla 4 and Kakanj 5 in BiH and Morava in Serbia. They are not part of the NERP-derived figures above, the report adds. The individual units in Kolubara A gradually breached the allowed limits.

Of note, Pljevlja, the only coal plant unit the country, wasn’t subject to a national emission reduction plan. Its PM emissions doubled last year to 1,130 tons, the highest level since at least 2018.

The authors recommended to Montenegro to develop a plan B in case the so-called ecological reconstruction of the Pljevlja facility doesn’t go as planned.

Western Balkans require more funding for just transition of coal regions

Bankwatch also stressed that the European Commission and European Union member states should secure additional, dedicated funding for a just transition of coal regions in the Western Balkans.

“At a time when EU leaders appear confident in Serbia’s ability to manage the environmental impacts of lithium mining, our report provides a sobering reality check about environmental law enforcement in the region. The European Commission’s inability to ensure compliance with EU pollution control legislation puts a major dent in the EU’s image in the region,” the organization’s Southeast Europe Energy Policy Officer Pippa Gallop said.