“If Parliament adopts the law on ratification of the Paris Agreement, which has entered the parliamentary procedure, I am afraid that we will have to forget about constructing the Pljevlja Thermal Power Plant second block,” says the DPS MP and the member of the parliamentary economy committee, Filip Vukovic, in an interview for Pobjeda.
This climate change agreement requires the retention of a global average temperature below two degrees Celsius in relation to the pre-industrial level and an attempt to limit the rise in temperature to 1.5 degrees. As many as 197 countries committed to adopt the agreement, 154 of which have already ratified it. The USA has not ratified it yet, although it supported it until President Donald Trump was elected.
According to Vukovic, the former member of the Pljevlja Coal Mine board of directors, ratifying the Paris Agreement is contrary to Montenegro’s strategy plans in energy sector.
“Our intention to construct the TE second block and to increase coal production is contrary to potential ratification of already signed Paris Agreement. It’s logical to conclude that if Parliament passes the law, our desire to construct the TE second block, ie to decrease electricity imports, would not come true. It also means that the existing TE block would have to reduce its production in order to reduce CO2 emissions,” Vukovic explained.
He finds it unacceptable to reduce energy capacities, calling to mind that this year Montenegro has spent €60m for electricity imports in 2017 and that the sum will be increased to €100m by the end of the year.
