Novi Pazar biomass plant, Photo: Nataša Kovačević
Visit of KfW-funded wood-biomass plant raises further concerns
5th June 2024 – Four environmental NGOs have today written to KfW Directors [1], calling once again for an end to ongoing funding for biomass heat and power plants in Serbia, and demanding answers to previously raised concerns that campaigners say KfW evaded in a previous response. The letter follows a visit to Novi Pazar biomass plant which KfW helped fund by representatives of CEE Bankwatch and Earth Thrive.
As shown in photographs taken and shared by the campaigners [2], the Novi Pazar plant burns roundwood, i.e. whole stems of trees taken directly from the forest. Furthermore, campaigners found no evidence of any control of wood dust, exposure to which is harmful to human health, nor did they see evidence of adequate fire prevention measures being implemented. Nonetheless, there are plans to further expand this plant, i.e. to increase the amount of wood it burns.
Natasa Kovacevic, from CEE Bankwatch Network, who took part in the visit during February 2025, states: “Burning large quantities of wood for a heat and power plant is never climate friendly or sustainable. It emits no less CO2 than burning coal does, and it emits large quantities of harmful small particulates and other air pollutants. However, seeing a KfW-funded plant burning whole stems of wood and operating without adequate health and safety protections is particularly shocking.”
Zoe Lujic from Earth Thrive & Balkan Centre for the Rights of Nature, who took part in the same visit to the plant, adds: “KfW’s funding for biomass energy is clearly linked to more logging of forests, in a country where illegal logging is already rampant. Cutting down trees and forests can never be part of a transition to true cleaner energy. Instead, it causes grave harm to the climate and to all the plant, animal, fungi and other living communities who live and depend on forest ecosystems and goes against their right to life.”
The joint letter reiterates previous calls expressed in an open letter from 2024, signed by 41 environmental groups, [3] for KfW to stop this project at once and invest in energy efficiency and conservation, as well as wind, solar and geothermal energy in Serbia instead.
Contacts:
- Almuth Ernsting, Biofuelwatch, +44-7930-227525
- Natasa Kovacevic, CEE Bankwatch Network, +38267030033
- Zoe Lujic, Earth Thrive & Balkan Centre for the Rights of Nature, zoelujic@earth-thrive.org
Notes:
[1] https://www.biofuelwatch.org.uk/2025/second-ngo-letter-to-kfw-serbia-biomass
[2] Photos free to use with credits to Nataša Kovačević, drive.google.com/drive/folders/12C2C3QSqSt1LZSX46azP2UbX0BqBy6uq
[3] biofuelwatch.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/Open-Letter-to-KfW-English-version.pdf