Western Balkans citizens legally resident in EU equal to 14% of region’s population
International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) has stripped Belarus of the right to hold the World Championship this year
Alexei Navalny arrested on arrival as he returns home
LONG READ: The oligarch problem
Opposition activist Navalny's call for mass protests a success as thousands take to the streets across Russia
Russia's National Welfare Fund accounts for almost 12% of GDP
Police arresting activists ahead of Saturday’s demonstration in support of Navalny
Biden seeking a five-year extension to START II missile treaty
Western Balkans and Ukraine urged to scrutinise coal subsidies
Oligarchs trying to derail Ukraine’s privatisation programme, warns the head of Ukraine’s State Property Fund
Private finance mobilised by development banks up 9% to $175bn in 2019
VISEGRAD BLOG: Central Europe's populists need a new strategy for Biden
OUTLOOK 2021 Lithuania
EBRD says loan to Estonia’s controversial Porto Franco project was never disbursed
Czech MPs pass protectionist food law in violation of EU rules
M&A in Central and Eastern Europe fell 16% in value in 2020, says CMS report
Hungarian vehicle makers hit by supply chain shortage
COVID-19 and Trump’s indifference helped human rights abusers in 2020
OUTLOOK 2021 Poland
OUTLOOK 2021 Slovakia
BRICKS & MORTAR: Rosier future beckons for CEE retailers after year of change and disruption
FDI inflows to CEE down 58% in 1H20 but rebound expected
Albania needs reforms for e-commerce to thrive, says World Bank
BALKAN BLOG: US approach to switch from quick-fix dealmaking to experience and cooperation
Corona-induced slump in global clothing sector dragged down Albania’s 2020 exports
Bosnia's exports in 2020 amounted to BAM10.5bn, trade deficit to BAM6.3bn
Retailers and restaurant owners threaten protests in Bulgaria if reopening is delayed
Bulgaria's Biodit first company to IPO on new BEAM market
Bulgaria’s government considers gradual easing of COVID-related restrictions
Spring lockdown caused spike in online transactions in Croatia
ING: Growth in the Balkans: from zero to hero again?
Labour demand down 28% y/y in Croatia in 2020
EBRD investments reach record €11bn in pandemic-struck 2020
OUTLOOK 2021 Moldova
Storming parliaments: New Europe's greatest hits
World Bank revises projection for Moldova’s 2020 GDP decline to 7.2%
Montenegrins say state administration is most corrupt institution
North Macedonia plans to cut personal income tax in IT sector to zero in 2023
Romania government to pursue “ambitious” timetable for justice reforms
OUTLOOK 2021 Romania
OUTLOOK 2021 Slovenia
Slovenia’s opposition files no-confidence motion against Jansa cabinet
Slovenia’s government to release funds to news agency STA after EU pressure
UK Moneyhub picks Slovenia for post-Brexit European base
D’S Damat franchise deals ‘show Turkey’s hard-pressed mall operators becoming their own tenants’
Turkey’s benchmark rate held as concerns over faltering recovery come to fore
Turkish lira breaches HSBC’s stop-loss, Turkey ETF signalling outflows
CAUCASUS BLOG : What can Biden offer the Caucasus and Stans, all but forgotten about by Trump?
Armenia ‘to extend life of its 1970s Metsamor nuclear power plant after 2026’
OUTLOOK 2021 Armenia
COMMENT: Record high debt levels will slow post-coronavirus recovery, threaten some countries' financial stability, says IIF
OUTLOOK 2021 Georgia
Iran’s Khamenei menaces private citizen Trump with image of aircraft shadowing blond golfer
Iran’s technology minister indicted for failing to properly implement internet censorship
No US move to rejoin Iran nuclear deal imminent, say Biden national security nominees
TEHRAN BLOG: Will Biden bet on a quick return to the Iran nuclear deal?
Central Asia vaccination plans underwhelm, but governments look unruffled
Fears of authoritarianism as Kyrgyz populist wins landslide and backing for ‘Khanstitution’
Mongolia's PM quits amid protests over treatment of mother with coronavirus and newborn baby
Mongolia's winter dzud set to be one of most extreme on record says Red Cross
Mongolian coal exports to China paralysed as Beijing demands virus testing of truck drivers
Mongolia fears economic damage as country faces up to its first local transmissions of coronavirus
OUTLOOK 2021 Tajikistan
OUTLOOK 2021 Turkmenistan
Turkmenistan: How the Grinch stole New Year
COMMENT: Uzbekistan is being transformed, but where are the democratic reforms?
Download the pdf version
More...
Countries with major coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreaks have seen a dramatic fall in air pollution as lockdown measures have caused industry to grind to a halt, images shot from space over China, Italy and Spain have shown.
However, in the Western Balkans, where a large share of the air pollution generated locally is from ageing coal-fired power plants, there has not yet been a similar slowdown.
In fact, images from the European Space Agency (ESA) comparing nitrogen dioxide concentrations in March 2019 and March 14-25, 2020 show roughly the same amount of pollution at the main trouble spots in Bosnia & Herzegovina, North Macedonia and Serbia, though there is a slight diminution in Albania, Croatia and Slovenia.
This is in contrast to the significant drop in nitrogen dioxide concentrations in China, France, Italy and Spain, which have some of the world’s severest outbreaks of the virus with 82,447, 39,642, 97,689 and 78,797 cases respectively as of March 30, according to World Health Organisation (WHO) data.
“The Copernicus Sentinel-5P satellite has recently mapped air pollution across Europe and China and has revealed a significant drop in nitrogen dioxide concentrations – coinciding with the strict quarantine measures,” said a press release from the ESA.
“The new images clearly illustrate a strong reduction of nitrogen dioxide concentrations over major cities across Europe – specifically Milan, Paris and Madrid.”
Earlier images from NASA and the ESA show a similarly dramatic decrease in air pollution in Wuhan, China, where the coronavirus epidemic was first identified.
Serbia has introduced strict lockdown measures, taking its cue from the Chinese experience of bringing the virus under control in Hubei and Wuhan. But despite this, the Serbian capital Belgrade was briefly ranked as the city with the worst air pollution worldwide by the Air Visual API website that compiles data from ground sensors, as reported by Reuters on March 27.
The ESA map clearly indicates high levels of pollution from the cluster of power plants — Kolubara A and Nikola Tesla A and B —and other industrial companies around Belgrade. There are air pollution hotspots around the Kosovo A and B power plants in Kosovo. In Bosnia, there is a high level of pollution around the massive Tuzla coal-fired power plant and an industrial area that includes ArcelorMittal’s Zenica factory north of Sarajevo. The area around Montenegro’s Plevija coal power plant is slightly more intensively polluted in March 2020 than in March 2019.
bne IntelliNews correspondents in the region recall that when the pandemic started to spread there was an initial increase in air pollution in major cities, most likely caused by large numbers of people commuting to work in private cars rather than risk infection on crowded public transport. However, this has changed as an increasing number of businesses are shut.
On the other hand, there has been a clear fall in air pollution around the Croatian capital Zagreb and in industrial areas across Slovenia. Nitrogen dioxide pollution in the industrial area around the Albanian capital Tirana has virtually disappeared in March 2020; Albania’s economy is closely linked with Italy’s due to the countries' geographical proximity and the fact it has some of the lowest costs in Europe. As a result, many Italian clothing and other firms outsource to Albania, but, as reported by NGO the Clean Clothes Campaign, many orders are now being cancelled.
Yet the largest share of air pollution in most of the region is linked to burning coal. Five Western Balkans countries — Bosnia, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia — have some of the most polluting coal-fired power plants in Europe.
Air pollution is responsible for up to one in five premature deaths — or the deaths of almost 5,000 people — in 19 Western Balkan cities, according to a 2019 study led by UN Environment. On average, people lose up to 1.3 years of life to air pollution in the region.
An earlier study by environmental NGO Health and Environment Alliance (HEAL) found that ageing coal-fired power plants in the region are a major source of air pollution in the EU, with hundreds of deaths linked to air pollution emanating from the Western Balkans recorded in the worst affected EU members Romania and Italy.
However, there are signs things are beginning to change. Two planned new power plants — an expansion of Plejiva in Montenegro and ContourGlobal’s Kosova e Re in Kosovo — have recently been scrapped, and governments have been looking increasingly at renewables.
Register here to continue reading this article and 5 more for free or purchase 12 months full website access including the bne Magazine for just $250/year.
Register to read the bne monthly magazine for free:
Already registered
Password could contain only a-z0-9\+*?[^]$(){}=!<>|:-_ characters and have 8-20 symbols length.
Please complete your registration by confirming your email address.
A confirmation email has been sent to the email address you provided.
Forgotten password?
Email field can't be empty.
No user with this email address.
Access recovery request has expired, or you are using the wrong recovery token. Please, try again.
Access recover request has expired. Please, try again.
To continue viewing our content you need to complete the registration process.
Please look for an email that was sent to with the subject line "Confirmation bne IntelliNews access". This email will have instructions on how to complete registration process. Please check in your "Junk" folder in case this communication was misdirected in your email system.
If you have any questions please contact us at sales@intellinews.com
Sorry, but you have used all your free articles fro this month for bne IntelliNews. Subscribe to continue reading for only $119 per year.
Your subscription includes:
For the meantime we are also offering a free subscription to bne's digital weekly newspaper to subscribers to the online package.
Click here for more subscription options, including to the print version of our flagship monthly magazine:
More subscription options
Take a trial to our premium daily news service aimed at professional investors that covers the 30 countries of emerging Europe:
Get IntelliNews PRO
For any other enquiries about our products or corporate discounts please contact us at sales@intellinews.com
If you no longer wish to receive our emails, unsubscribe here.
Magazine annual electronic subscription
Magazine annual print subscription
Website & Archive annual subscription
Combined package: web access & magazine print annual subscription