Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Serbia, and North Macedonia could face infringement procedures following their failure to bring SO2, NOx, and PM emission from coal power plants, in line with international rules.
The Secretariat of the Energy Community said they have sent warning letters to each country to express concerns over the implementation of their national emission reduction plans. On paper, these plans bring each country in line with the Large Combustion Plants Directive which lays down acceptable limits for sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide, and particulate matter for facilities with a capacity over 50MW.
They said that these four countries are not meeting their obligations and all excessive air pollution is originating in their thermal power plants.
The sending of letters is the first step before enforcement procedures are started.
In January 20121, the Renewables and Environmental Regulatory Institute sued the state-owned coal mining company and power producer, Elektropriveda Srbije for endangering public health. They said this was due to “extreme” SO2 emissions from its thermal power plants in Kostolac and Obrenovac.
Albania does not currently have any active thermal power plants, although it does experience a high level of air pollution leading to thousands of premature deaths each year.
