*[Enwl-eng] 16 coal plants making us sick

[ENWL]

This petition was launched on our YouMove platform by Bankwatch, HEAL, CAN Europe, Europe Beyond Coal, Sandbag and VedvarendeEnergi. We think you might be interested in it.

      Even the best environmental standards don’t help if our neighbours ignore them. A lot of the dirty air we breathe comes from coal power plants just over the borders of the EU. We’re calling on the new Commission to clean up the air.

      Sign now! 


16 of coal-fired power plants in the Western Balkans, just over the EU border, produce more fine dust and sulphur dioxide than the 250 plants in the whole EU combined. [1] It makes us sick, and the most vulnerable are the most affected: Children, the elderly, and those who are already ill.

These countries already have committed to adopting EU emissions standards for their coal power plants - which would mean installing technologies to reduce exhaust fumes. But this is progressing far too slowly, and it’s costing us dearly. The European Commission can speed the process up and protect the health of people in the EU and the Balkans alike, by pushing them to comply with long-agreed emissions standards. 

The Commission is already politically and financially helping the Western Balkans with energy policy, and with new commissioners for Energy and Environment taking office, it has a golden opportunity to shape cleaner, healthier energy policy in the region. To get the attention of the new Commission we will: 

  a.. Publish research in December [2] to show how much Western Balkan countries are failing EU standards for clean air. 
  b.. Bring local activists to Brussels in December to meet representatives for the new commissioners. 
  c.. Secure public awareness and the support of citizens from all over Europe for our demands through this petition. 
If we stand together we clean up the air we all breathe. 

            Sign Petition 
     

There is a dark cloud over Europe. Air pollution from fossil fuel power plants is taking its toll across the continent on people’s health and their wallets. [3] Nowhere is the threat more prevalent than in the countries of the Western Balkans, where outdated power plants are allowed to burn coal and emit pollution at levels not allowed in the EU. [4] 

As a result, these power plants are causing every year 3,900 premature deaths, 8,000 cases of bronchitis in children and other chronic illnesses across the continent. The cost for health systems and economies in the EU sums up to EUR 5.8 billion. [5] 

The European Commission has a responsibility to stop this and protect all Europeans, and as we have a new group of commissioners we have an opportunity to encourage them to shape plans for cleaner, healthier air for the next five years. 

Pollution knows no borders, and some of the worst originates in Europe’s southeast corner. Let’s stop this together!

            Sign Petition 
     

In recent years local protests have drawn tens of thousands of people into the streets to demand clean air to breathe. From Tuzla in Bosnia and Herzegovina to Pristina in Kosovo, people are tired of fossil fuels poisoning their children.

Elected officials have failed to react, so what is needed is a unifying groundswell from across Europe that says ‘No to pollution, yes to clean air!’ But while Europeans bear the brunt, the European Commission remains silent.

Let’s change it

Marta Tycner (Warschau)
Jörg Rohwedder (Lübeck)
Virginia López Calvo (Madrid)
Giulio Carini (Rom)
Alexandre Naulot (Marseille)
on behalf of the whole WeMove Europe-Team



References:
[1] https://www.env-health.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Chronic-Coal-Pollution-report.pdf
[2] The research is drawn up by Bankwatch and will show the compliance with the 2018 emissions ceilings of coal plants
[3] Annex 2, page 40 of https://www.env-health.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Chronic-Coal-Pollution-report.pdf
[4] https://www.env-health.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Chronic-Coal-Pollution-report.pdf from page 32
[5] https://www.env-health.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Chronic-Coal-Pollution-report.pdf page 5 and 8

You Move Europe is an online action platform dedicated to help making Europe a more democratic, environmentally and socially just place. You Move Europe puts power in your hands. If you have an idea to make Europe a better place, You Move Europe helps you make it a reality. Petitions on this platform are started and run by civil society groups and members of the public. WeMove.EU hosts these petitions and they are in line with our values but they are not necessarily endorsed by WeMove.EU. 


From: WeMove.EU 
Sent: Wednesday, October 23, 2019 4:02 PM
Subject: 16 coal plants making us sick
 
 
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