Coal

As 2017 ended and 2018 began, Macedonia took emergency measures against dense smog enveloping its cities, an annual winter scourge in the Western Balkans blamed on a mix of coal burning, ageing industry and high-polluting emissions from older vehicles.

ING by the end of 2025 will stop funding any utility company which relies on coal for more than 5 percent of its energy, the Dutch bank said on Dec. 12.

Greece and the European Union have reached a "preliminary deal" on the coal-fired plants the country will sell to comply with an EU court ruling, Greek Energy Minister George Stathakis said on Monday.

Greece and the European Union are expected to wrap up talks on which coal-fired plants the country will put up for sale in line with an EU court ruling this month, Greek Energy Minister Giorgos Stathakis has said.

Twenty countries and two U.S. states have joined an international alliance to phase out coal from power generation before 2030, environment ministers said on Nov. 16.

The total reported economic losses caused by weather- and climate-related extremes in the 33 EEA member countries between 1980 and 2016 amounted to more than €450bn, according to a recent study released by the European Environment Agency.

Chinese authorities have approved a mega-merger between the country's largest coal producer and a top electricity firm, the government said on Aug. 28, reportedly creating the world's biggest power company in terms of capacity.

A US ship sailed with the first shipment of US coal to Ukrainian power stations, Moscow's Izvestia newspaper reported, citing a message from the US Embassy site. The Ukranian Ambassador, Valeriy Chali, attended the ceremony to send coal from the Baltimore port.

The United States is set to start shipping coal to Ukraine for the first time under a "historic" deal announced on July 31 that should help the crisis-hit nation end reliance on Russia.

The agreement inked earlier this month by U.S. firm Xcoal Energy & Resources and Ukraine's state-owned energy firm Centrenergo will see some 700,000 tons of coal delivered by the end of the year.

On one side there is Bodrum; on the other side there is Marmaris. At the center of this paradise lies the Yatağan Thermal Power Station with its giant polluting capacity.