Environmentalists are sounding the alarm: China is funding dozens of coal projects far beyond its borders. Coal is considered the most environmentally hazardous of fossil fuels, including because of the amount of carbon dioxide that it emits during combustion (about one and a half times more than natural gas). According to the latest research of the World Meteorological Organization in 2017, the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere reached its highest level in the last 5 million years. Last month, the UN climate expert group said that the use of coal in production should be stopped by 2050. This solution should bound the global temperature rise to a limit of 1.5 degrees. Â
China-supported coal projects are being implemented in South America, Africa, Southeast Asia and the Balkans. The contracts concluded between the participants of such projects are often not completely transparent, but groups of environmental companies, including the non-governmental organization Bankwatch, try to monitor the situation. Energy Group Coordinator Ioana Chiuta says that efforts to combat the dirty air of Chinese cities have led many energy companies to limit their investments in coal-fired power plants in China and instead have targeted their technology and capital to foreign markets.Â
Coal smoke must be cleaned, but this is not always done
In Serbia, one of the country’s main coal-fired power stations is being expanded with a loan from a Chinese bank. Works have been carried out since 2017 under the leadership of a large construction company in China. An hour east of the capital city of Belgrade, in the coal-rich valley of the Danube, construction takes place on a site known as Kostolac B3. The power plant is managed by the national Serbian electric power company EPS, which provides about 70% of the country’s electricity by burning coal, while the rest is electricity produced by hydroelectric power stations. It is expected that Chinese investment in the project will amount to 613 million US dollars. The installation of the new power unit will bring Serbia 350 MW of additional capacity. The project must be implemented in accordance with environmental standards.Â
However, the Serbian Center for Environment and Sustainable Development (Cekor) questions the project’s compliance with all environmental standards. After a series of relevant inspections of the project, Cekor found it impossible to ensure that EU standards for environmental pollution are in force.
By author Milena Moskvich