EC proceedings have been initiated against contracting parties that do not apply the NERP, including Serbia

NERP is a National Emission Reduction Plan – a document that prescribes the maximum allowable emissions of pollutants (sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and particulate matter) from large thermal power plants on an annual basis. Serbia was obliged to apply the NERP from January 1, 2018, however, during 2018 and 2019, sulfur dioxide emissions were 6 times higher than the maximum allowed emissions.

The Energy Community Secretariat has initiated proceedings against Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Northern Macedonia and Kosovo * for exceeding the maximum emissions prescribed by the NERP during 2018 and 2019.

A statement from the Secretariat states that the Secretariat has preliminary concluded that large thermal power plants in Serbia have not complied with the emissions prescribed by the NERP for sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and powdered substances.

RERI pointed out that EPS’s thermal power plants are among the biggest polluters of sulfur dioxide in Europe. TENT and Kostolac emit an average of 35 times more sulfur dioxide than the average thermal power plant in the EU. While the EU emits about 600 thousand tons of sulfur dioxide per year, only TENT and Kostolac emit 300 thousand tons of sulfur dioxide per year.

In January, RERI filed a lawsuit with the High Court in Belgrade against JP Elektroprivreda Srbije (EPS), for endangering the health of the citizens of the Republic of Serbia, and due to multiple exceeding of allowed sulfur dioxide emissions from the Nikola Tesla and Kostolac thermal power plants.

With this lawsuit, RERI is trying to protect the health and the right of the citizens of Serbia to a healthy environment before the court and to ensure that in the future thermal power plants do not emit sulfur dioxide above the maximum annual allowable emissions. In 2018 and 2019, thermal power plants owned by EPS emitted about 300 thousand tons of this toxic gas per year, although the National Emission Reduction Plan (NERP), which Serbia is obliged to implement from January 1, 2018, allows a maximum of 55 thousand tons per year.

Source: reri.org.rs

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