Read an interview with Ms Dragana Mileusnic, Energy Policy Coordinator for South East Europe at the European Secretariat of CAN Europe about this campaign, what preceded its launch and plans of the organizations involved. There is also a comment by Zvezdan Kalmar Krnajski Jović from the Centre for Ecology and Sustainable Development CEKOR related to the progress of the campaign in Serbia.
Increased demand for energy at the global level, on the one hand, and the process of global warming, on the other hand, imposes the need for innovation in energy production. The process of decarbonization is seen as crucial for the fight against climate changes and it involves a transition from fossil fuels (whose combustion releases large amounts of greenhouse gas emissions) to clean and renewable energy sources (such as wind energy, biomass, solar and geothermal energy). Combustion of fossil fuels, especially coal, has an extremely negative impact on the quality of the environment and the health of the citizens [1,2], due to emissions of many pollutants in the air.
This context forms a general social need for a joint civil initiative that will guide public policies in the area of energy, climate change and environment towards renewable energy sources. Many countries – such as the United Kingdom, Finland, Portugal, Italy and France - have already pledged to abandon coal as an energy source by the year 2030. In order to speed up the process of energy transition and reduce the negative effects of the use of coal on public health, climate and environment, civil society organizations from 28 countries launched a campaign "Europe beyond coal". The main aim of this campaign is clean and safe energy and in the focus of the campaign are reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, reduction of air, water, and land pollution of air, use of renewable sources of energy, application of energy efficiency measures and fair, equitable energy transition.
Dragana Mileusić is a coordinator for Southeast European energy policy at the European Secretariat of the Climate Action Network Europe, which brings together more than 130 civil society organizations that deal with topics of energy and climate change. BOS talked to Dragana about the campaign, as she is one of the participants who made the concept of "Europe beyond coal".
BOS: Campaign “Europe beyond coal” deals with transition to clean and renewable energy, with civil society organizations being the bearers of the campaign. Where did the initiative for the campaign “Europe beyond coal” come from?
Dragana Mileusnić: NGOs throughout Europe have been cooperating for years on a variety of campaigns for clean energy and mitigation of climate change consequences. Therefore, the campaign Europe beyond coal emerged from the organic needs of the civil society organizations to work together even closer and more structured than before in order to achieve the ambitious goal of European energy system being fully transformed by 2030. The need for cooperation was defined during joint activities of civil society organizations in Germany, in May 2016. Since then, a large number of activists has worked together on the creation of a mutual campaign.
BOS: Besides the European Union members, campaign also includes Western Balkans countries and Turkey. The campaign “Europe beyond coal” is, therefore, designed to be a joint project. Where does the need for such a widely coordinated campaign come from?
Dragana Mileusnić: The average global temperature on Earth today is 1 degree Celsius higher compared to pre-industrial period. The consequences of these climate changes are already felt all across Europe and the region of the Balkans and Turkey will be among most vulnerable in the future, with frequent droughts, floods and fires. That’s why it is necessary to stop the planet from warming up. The Paris climate agreement aims to limit warming to below 2 degrees C with maximum efforts to contain the warming up to 1.5 degree Celsius compared to pre-industrial levels at most. Science tells us that in order to reach this goal it is necessary to decarbonize the electro-energetic system and then the entire economy. In today's world where the energy systems and global markets are closely tied, a natural need for addressing this problem and resolving it at the level of the entire continent of Europe has appeared.
BOS: Speaking of the Paris agreement, common and individual goals for reducing emissions in the Member States of the EU are being planned and reviewed. Given that the campaign has a framework that is wider than the EU’s - how does the campaign refer to the EU policies and to the objectives of the Paris Agreement?
Dragana Mileusnić: EU policies, as well as commitments from the Paris Agreement provide a political framework for the campaign. These processes are compatible with the campaign, even though EU policies are lagging behind the Paris Agreement goals, the goals which campaign is aiming to contribute to. With the process of revision of climate and energy targets in EU, we are expecting to see a shift from coal towards renewable energy sources and a wide set of energy efficiency measures being applied in the Balkans and Turkey too.
BOS: Security of energy supply and availability of energy are among basic needs of contemporary lifestyles, and in many countries coal is considered a cheap and reliable source of energy. What are alternatives to coal in the transition process to sustainable and clean energy? How can renewable energy be competitive in the energy market?
Dragana Mileusnić: The transition to a sustainable and clean energy system is undoubtedly a big challenge, especially for countries naturally rich in fossil fuels. Nevertheless, one has to bear in mind that, especially in the Balkans, a large amount of energy is lost today in inefficient processes and through losses on the network. Increasing energy efficiency is the first task on the road to sustainable energy. With increasing efficiency, the demand will be lower, so new power plants should be planned accordingly. Throughout Europe, as well as in the region, the potential of renewable energy sources, especially wind and sunshine, is extremely high, so almost all countries in the region can meet their own needs.
BOS: Workplaces are a common argument for the continuation of a coal-based energy policy. How is it envisaged that energy transition would affect the labor market, economic development?
Dragana Mileusnić: The experience of other countries show that transition is not an easy process, but still is certainly an opportunity for economic development. Number of jobs in renewable energy industries is growing year after year. According to the European Union's Environment and Sustainable Environment Report, in the period from 2010 to 2014, the sector of green economy grew by 50% [3]. It is anticipated that the market for clean technologies will be doubled by 2020, which will bring a lot of new jobs and business opportunities. Energy transition also brings other benefits that we often forget, such as less dependence on imported fossil fuels, cleaner air, better quality of life and citizens' health.
BOS: The concept of fair energy transition has already been recognized in the EU countries as being crucial in the process of removing coal from energy production. What does this concept really mean and where are the countries of the Western Balkans in the process of fair energy transition now?
Dragana Mileusnić: The concept of fair transition has developed in regions where a large part of the workforce depends on mines and thermal power plants. In these cases, a need to respond to the challenges of these people is recognized, including the participation of the whole society. This implies making plans how to transform the workforce in a particular region, using retraining programs, workshops, and gradual transition to other economic activity sectors. So-called green jobs can play a significant role, but new jobs can be in completely different branches, such as in the IT industry. Unfortunately, in the Balkans, we have not yet moved far in this process, although we can see a growing need for this, as for example in Montenegro, where it is expected that the thermal power plant will be shut down in the next five to six years.
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The "Europe beyond coal" campaign officially began on November 2nd, when the campaign website was launched and the report "Europe's dark cloud" published with the latest results of the study of the impact of pollution coming from coal combustion on public health. Series of events will mark the start of the campaign that will serve as an overture to the United Nations Conference on Climate Change COP23.
Global trends in energy production point to a gradual but inevitable transformation from fossil fuels to renewable and clean energy sources. Once understood just as an alternative and a costly one, today renewable energy sources, along with energy efficiency, represent the main way to prevent overheating of the planet, to reduce pollution of water, air and soil and contribute to improvement of the health and living conditions of citizens. Development of technology makes them competitive in the energy market, and their growth forms new branches of industry and new jobs. On the other hand, the continued use of fossil fuels, especially coal, is becoming increasingly unsustainable and expensive, taking into account all external production costs (such as environmental pollution, health impacts on the population) and standards that the energy production plants need to meet. It is estimated that new standards for large combustion plants will completely deny coal as a fuel from the European Union market by 2030 at the latest. Therefore, when deciding on the long-term energy development, it is necessary to take new technologies and trends into account, as well as to ensure the sustainability of the energy sector and the competitiveness of the economy through the adoption of adequate and transparent public policies - based on scientific research, analysis and knowledge.
"Europe beyond coal" campaign in Serbia
Serbia's energy sector relies heavily on coal as the main domestic source of energy (60-70% of electricity is produced from coal). There is more and more evidence of the negative impacts of pollution which callieries and coal-fired power plants have on health, environment, and economy as well. According to HEAL's research, the consequences of pollution caused by emissions from coal-fired power plants in Serbia cost between 1.5 billion and 5 billion euros a year [4] and contribute to 5400 [5] premature deaths.
Nevertheless, Serbia continues to strategically base its development on coal reserves, as confirmed by the latest proposal of the Program for the Implementation of Energy Development Strategies by 2025 with projections until 2030. However, even in this document, it is planned to shut down eight old thermal power blocks due to the obsolescence of technology and the inability to comply with environmental standards. So, energy transition is approaching us regardless of the strategic choices of decision-makers.
Zvezdan Kalmar Krnajski Jović, from the Center for Ecology and Sustainable Development from Subotica, is one of the first participants in the campaign "Europe beyond coal".
BOS: Why is it important for Serbia to get involved in the campaign? And why is it important to for Serbia to develop energy on clean and renewable energy sources?
Zvezdan Kalmar Krnajski Jović: Serbia is in a global perspective a minor greenhouse gas emitter, but viewed per capita, and per unit of gross national income (by EUR BNP), Serbia is one of the largest emitters in Europe and is globally in line with the highest emission countries. In addition, precisely because of the extremely large losses per year from drought, forest fires and floods, Serbia, and especially its energy sector, has a material and moral obligation to become more actively involved in the process of decarbonizing energy.
It is well known from the research of the external costs of the Serbian energy sector that Serbia pays the consequences of pollution and greenhouse gas emissions, and for health and ecological costs, around 18 cEUR/kWh of electricity [6]. This actually shows that from an economic standpoint and from the standpoint of security of energy supply, current energy mix is not sustainable.
In this sense, any further insistence on the construction of coal-fired thermal power plants and on the opening of new mines in Kostolac, Kolubara, Kovin, Štavlje and some other places in Serbia, and especially plans to produce electricity from coal even after the year 2050, are actually an anticivilization and dangerous process with imense negative health, economic and ecological consequences for the citizens of Serbia.The global and European process that is led by responsible and reasonable civil society organizations and others is the direction in which Serbia should go in order to create the preconditions for a healthy and sustainable way of life for our children in the near and far future.
Interview was prepared by: Mirjana Jovanović, Belgrade Open School
This text was published in the XXX/XXXI newsletter "Let's talk about negotiations", which you can access here.
Further recommended:
Accelerating coal phase out - The OECD context
The E3G, a non-profit and independent think tank that does climate change research, provides an overview of existing thermal power plants in OSCE countries, along with a summary of planned instruments and policies for a gradual shut down of coal capacities. The document is available here.
Photo credists: Freepik
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[1] World Health Organization: EXPOSURE TO AIR POLLUTION: A MAJOR PUBLIC HEALTH CONCERN (http://www.who.int/ipcs/features/air_pollution.pdf)
[2] HEAL: Neplaćeni zdravstveni račun (http://env-health.org/IMG/pdf/factsheet_eu_and_western_balkan_sr_web.pdf)
[3] European Environment State and Outlook Report (SOER) (https://www.eea.europa.eu/soer)
[4] HEAL: Unpaid Health Bill (http://bit.ly/1eMB0m7)
[5] World Helath Organization: Economic cost of the health impact of air pollution in Europe: Clean air, health and wealth (http://www.euro.who.int/__data/assets/pdf_file/0004/276772/Economic-cost-health-impact-air-pollution-en.pdf)
[6] Study on the Need for Modernization of Large Combustion Plants in the Energy Community, page 9, http://bit.ly/2xshAlY