energy efficiency

The Czech government's plan to phase out part of its lignite-fired power plant fleet by 2025 has hit the news recently with total annual power output from this climate-damaging source set to drop from 40 TWh in 2015 to 18 TWh by 2035. However the increased electricity consumption projected in the very same planning scenarios, that over time will eliminate the country's current high energy export share and shift it instead onto an import dependency path, places an unfortunate question mark over just how serious the Czech Republic is about its transition to becoming an energy efficient, low-carbon economy.

Ideas about the construction of a new lignite power plant in Kosovo have existed since the end of the 1980s, and even the current Kosova e Re proposal – scaled down to 600 MW from the original 2100 MW – has been around since 2009. It is being touted by the Kosovo government, the World Bank, USAID and the European Commission among others as the only realistic option to replace the ageing and heavily polluting Kosovo A power plant.

With only a few weeks to go until the end of the year, and the official start of the new EU budgetary period for 2014-2020 that will see billions of euros flow into central and eastern Europe (CEE), national governments are racing to finalise their EU spending allocations for the forthcoming seven-year period. But, according to new analysis and a data visualisation put together by Bankwatch and Friends of the Earth Europe, CEE member states look set to pass up the opportunity to devote adequate funds for green projects and initiatives.