Public Pressure Mounts for World Bank to Abandon Dirty-Coal Project in Kosovo

Re-posted from the Sierra Club Compass blog, as we continue to support efforts to stop a new coal-fired power plant in Kosovo.

It’s getting harder and harder for the World Bank to turn their heads and ignore the glaring problems that plague its planned 600 MW lignite-fired power plant project in Kosovo.  Opposition to the proposed “Kosovo C” coal plant is mounting, with protests spreading from the project site in Obiliq, Kosovo earlier this month right to the doors of the World Bank in Washington, D.C.

Sierra Club members, joined by activists from around the world, helped make Kosovo C a focal point at the World Bank’s Spring Meetings this past weekend.  Outside the barricades, in bright yellow Beyond Coal tee-shirts, Sierra Club campaigners distributed fact sheets detailing the shortcomings of the Kosovo C project to thousands of Bank employees, delegations from member countries, and reporters as they entered the meetings. 

Meanwhile, inside the Bank complex, a panel on Kosovo’s Options for a Sustainable Energy Future drew over fifty attendees, including Bank members, civil society organizers, and press, as well as several members of the World Bank Inspection Panel.  The Inspection Panel is currently entertaining a complaint against the Kosovo C project, and is scheduled to visit Kosovo at the end of May to determine if an investigation is warranted.   

“It is encouraging to see partners around the world support the Kosovan civil society in raising awareness for the serious deficiencies of the Bank’s coal project in my country,” said Nezir Sinani, a Kosovan activist with the Institute for Development Policy who is leading the international campaign against the Kosovo C project.