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Public Opposition Of The New Kosovo Power Plant

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RISK FACTOR NO. 10: Public opposition to the plant in Kosovo presents a material risk.
Public objections have been raised to four specific impacts of the New Kosovo Power Plant. First, the forced displacement of Kosovo residents and the potential violation of World Bank development standards remains an ongoing and major public controversy. Second, residents have raised questions of air quality deterioration in Kosovo that would be caused by burning lignite with outmoded technology. Third, Kosovo’s reliance upon coal-fired generation for 95 percent of its annual power generation brings criticism for the levels of greenhouse gas emissions it creates. Fourth, recent opposition to electricity price increases under the existing system …show more content…

Private sector finance will be the preferred option, but where the World Bank Group does engage, the existing screening criteria for coal projects will apply.
The World Bank and the U.S. government have indicated that support for NKPP would qualify as a “rare circumstances.” In August 2013 the President of the World Bank Jim Yong Kim said that his support for NKPP grew out of a commitment to prevent the poor from freezing in their apartments.
The primary mission of the World Bank is the promotion of development that will alleviate poverty. According to its 2013 climate change policy document, “The World Bank Group is intensifying its focus on the objective of ending poverty and promoting shared prosperity.”
The World Bank makes the statement about energy poverty more concrete by linking the high cost of energy to economic un-competitiveness by noting that such costs also impair the ability of the poor to obtain access to basic energy resources: “Yet high costs of energy compromise the affordability of basic energy needs for households and the competitiveness of industry … Where they are retained, subsidies need to be sharply targeted to the poor.”
The World Bank also advances the general theory that access to energy stimulates economic growth, which assists the poor and creates broad

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