Page 15 - Respond 2019 Magazine

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World Bank dumps

Kosovo plant, ending

support for coal worldwide

By Karl Mathiesen for Climate Home News

The Kosovo e Re lignite plant could not compete with renewables on price, said bank
president Jim Yong Kim

The proposed plant would replace Kosovo A power station (pictured), which was opened in 1962 and frequently breaks down (Photo: Karl Mathiesen)

The World Bank has abandoned the last coal project on its books, there were cheaper options to solve Kosovo’s energy crisis.
with its president publicly dumping the Kosovo e Re plant in On Wednesday, Kim said: “We are required by our by-laws to
October.
go with the lowest cost option and renewables have now come
Speaking at a town hall event in Bali, Jim Yong Kim was asked by below the cost of coal. So without question, we are not going to
civil society representatives from Kosovo whether the bank was [support the plant].”
still considering guaranteeing loans to the plant.
In 2015, the Kosovo government announced that it had signed an
“On the Balkans, yes, we have made a very firm decision not to go agreement with the World Bank and US company ContourGlobal
forward with the coal power plant,” he said. to build the new station.
Climate Home News reported in June that World Bank officials had It is unclear what the withdrawal of the bank’s guarantee means
met minister of economic development Valdrin Lluka, amid rumours for the financing of the project, which has long been a centrepiece
that a bank review had rejected the project on the grounds that infrastructure project for the Kosovo government.

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