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 Comply or Close report. The overall particulate matter (PM or dust) and nitrogen oxides (NOx) pollution from coal plants continued to exceed legal limits.

Emissions of the three pollutants were actually the lowest since at least 2018, altogether, but the legal upper limits were reduced as well. Serbian coal plants released almost a third less SO2 than in 2023 thanks to desulfurization units. The drop was greater than the total decrease in the region.

Seven years since pollution control rules came into force under the Energy Community Treaty, SO2 emissions from coal plants included in the national emission reduction plans (NERPs) of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo*, North Macedonia and Serbia were still collectively six times as high as allowed, Bankwatch said in its Comply or Close annual report.

Region-wide, SO2 emissions decreased 12.1% year over year, to 518,248 tons, but it’s only 14.5% down from 2018. The limits were more stringent in 2024 than in previous years, as is the case with PM pollution and NOx, which widened the compliance gap.

BiH becomes biggest SO2 polluter in Western Balkans

For the first time, Bosnia and Herzegovina’s NERP coal plants were the highest SO2 emitters, with 212,840 tons altogether – an increase of 17.1% from the previous year – and 11.3 times as high as allowed. The group excludes the Stanari facility, built in 2016. It has complied with the European Union’s Large Combustion Plants Directive since the start.

Serbia followed, with 205,925 tons, or 4.6 times as high as allowed. The total amount of SO2 emissions fell 30.1% on an annual basis, landing at the lowest level since at least 2018. The decrease in the country was higher than in the whole region. Of note, Serbia has a new coal plant, too – Kostolac B3.

The Kostolac B coal plant has a desulfurization unit, but its SO2 emissions in 2024 were 2.3 times more than allowed

The (insufficient) drop in SO2 emissions from the NERP facilities in the country is due to desulfurization units. Some of the other improvements in the region regarding air pollution came from a decrease in production.

Kostolac B finally started to decrease its emissions in 2024 with its desulfurization system, but it still emitted 2.3 times as much as allowed.

In April 2024, the EUR 215 million desulfurisation system at Termoelektrane Nikola Tesla (TENT) A3-A6 was commissioned. It was 13 years after securing funding. The units still emitted more than twice as much sulphur dioxide as allowed in 2024. Another desulfurization facility, at TENT B, was 91% complete at the end of the year.

Ugljevik accounts for over one fifth of SO2 emissions in region as desulfurization unit is idle

For the fifth time since 2018, the biggest individual SO2 polluter in the Western Balkans was Ugljevik in BiH, with 112,943 tons – more than the previous year. It includes a desulfurization unit since 2020, but it hasn’t been working as the operator considers it an “economic burden.”

In 2024, the only potentially significant development regarding pollution control in the region was the signing of a contract for the construction of a desulfurisation unit at Kakanj 6 and 7, the report notes. It is projected to cost just under EUR 63 million. But the authors of Comply and Close pointed to the slow progress in the reconstruction of the Pljevlja coal power plant in Montenegro, which is also conducted by a consortium of China-based Dongfang.

Five coal units operating illegally

Pljevlja is the only coal plant in Montenegro. The facility isn’t under NERP rules, but under a so-called opt-out mechanism. The deadlines have expired for closing the smallest and oldest plants under the opt-out limited lifetime derogation.

Pljevlja has been running illegally since late 2020, and in 2022 was joined by Tuzla 4 and Kakanj 5 in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Morava in Serbia. The Kolubara A plant, also in Serbia, failed to stop operating at the end of 2023.

The Energy Community Secretariat has opened several infringement-type cases against the three countries, 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 or closure.

Montenegro, Serbia and BiH have no clear plans for the coal plants that operate after ther their opt-out deadlines expired

“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,” said Balkan Energy Coordinator at Bankwatch Davor Pehchevski.

Six units exceeded their individual ceilings for sulfur dioxide emissions by more than ten times – Ugljevik, Gacko, Tuzla 6 and Kakanj 7 in Bosnia and Herzegovina; Kostolac A2 in Serbia; and Bitola B1 and B2 in North Macedonia.

In 2024, Pljevlja’s SO2 emissions dropped 11.1% to 39,140 tons, the lowest level since at least 2018. Dust emissions decreased to 793 tons from a record high of 1,130 tons, but this was still higher than any other year since the beginning of the period. NOx emissions – 3,682 tons, the second-lowest result, compare to 3,982 tons registered in 2023.

Gacko coal plant tops chart in particulate matter emissions

Dust pollution from NERP coal plants in the region was 1.9 times higher than allowed last year. It dropped slightly from 2023 but remained similar to 2018 levels.

The highest emitter was Gacko in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It emitted 3,339 tons – 13.7 times above the limit. After protests by local people, improvements were announced in autumn 2023, however the plant’s pollution grew last year. Overall, dust in BiH decreased for the third time in a row, landing at 4,146 tons. The emissions in the segment peaked in 2021 at 6,040 tons.

Serbia is the only country in the region with emissions of PM particles within legal limits

Nitrogen oxides pollution in the region totaled 1.4 times above the limit, after 1.3 times more than allowed in 2023. BiH, Kosovo* and Serbia all continued to breach their NOx limits, with TENT B in Serbia emitting the most – 12,418 tons.

Kosovo* had the highest exceedance – 3.1 times as high as its ceiling. The reconstruction and modernization of one of the two units in the Kosovo B coal power plant started recently.

North Macedonia is the only country complying with the rule on nitrogen oxides. Serbia is the only one below the limit for PM particles.

“EU enlargement is back on the agenda, but the harsh reality is that Western Balkan governments are showing no interest in people’s health or the environment. Instead of a robust response to these chronic breaches, the European Commission recently prioritised the Jadar lithium mine in Serbia as strategic, rewarding the regime’s failure to uphold the rule of law. This has to change, and fast,” said Bankwatch’s Southeast Europe Energy Policy Officer Pippa Gallop.