The deadly toll of Balkan coal: air pollution limits exceeded for 3 years in a row

This podcast episode coincides with the launch of our new Comply or Close report, a yearly look at coal-generated air pollution in the Western Balkans. From 2018 to 2020, around 19 000 people across Europe and beyond lost their lives because of air pollution emitted by Balkan coal power plants. Nearly 12 000 of these were caused by breaches of legal limits, so were completely preventable.

The Western Balkan governments are primarily responsible. But the EU is also supporting the status quo by importing dirty electricity from the Western Balkans. Listen to air pollution experts: Erika Uusivuori of the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA), Denis Žiško of the Centre for Ecology and Energy from Tuzla, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Bankwatch’s Ioana Ciuta discussing the report’s findings with our host Claudia Ciobanu.

See www.complyorclose.org to get the report and to find out more.