Government: “Only 24 Days with Increased Air Pollution” in Belgrade This Year

There have been only 24 days with increased air pollution in Belgrade this year, whereas in 2011, there have been 122, the Government of Serbia announced.

Also, in Bor, in 2023, there have been no days with excessive daily values of sulfur-dioxide, and in 2012, there were 116 days, whereas the mean value of sulfur-dioxide is 10 times lower than in 2012 and nearly four times below the limit, the announcement says.

The Government announces that it will continue working on measures of protection and improvement of air in Serbia.

The priority activities that have been defined include the replacement of energy sources in households and in public facilities with those that are ecologically acceptable, the improvement of energy efficiency, forestation, a ban on the burning of stubble, the replacement of old vehicles and increasing the number of electric chargers on public roads.

According to the adopted budget for 2024, a sum of RSD 1 billion is planned for the shutting down of boiler rooms and the replacement of energy sources in public institution buildings which use coal, mazut and fuel oil for heating, which is five time more than in 2023. The total budget for the living environment in 2024 is 18 times higher than in 2010, the announcement says.

In addition to that, in 2024, the plan is to shut down the boiler rooms in the public institutions which pollute the most, primarily in Belgrade, Nis, Smederevo, Zajecar, Valjevo and other cities.

The Ministry of Environmental Protection, in cooperation with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), will invest EUR 50 million in this project.

Subsidies for households for the replacement of individual furnaces and the improvement of energy efficiency measures will continue as well. The Ministry of Mining and Energy, in cooperation with the World Bank, has secured EUR 45 million for subsidies for households and over 50,000 households are expected to be repaired in the next three years.

The realization of the Energy Repair of Residential and Public Facilities project will start in 2024, in cooperation with the EBRD. The investment value of this project is EUR 64.5 million, and the repair of around a million square meters of heated surfaces is planned within the first phase.

Over the next three years, in Belgrade, Zajecar, Kragujevac and Pirot, the forestation of agricultural areas of lower quality will start. The plan is to cover close to 364 hectares of agricultural areas in Belgrade alone by 2026.

The working group of the Government of Serbia for the systemic solving of the issue of air quality will continue working on planning and implementing projects to the end of improving the protection and upgrading the air quality in the Republic of Serbia, the announcement concludes.

Vlada Republike Srbije

Ministarstvo rudarstva i energetike Republike Srbije

Ministarstvo zaštite životne sredine Republike Srbije

EBRD Evropska banka za obnovu i razvoj Beograd

Svetska Banka-WB Beograd

Government of Serbia

Ministry of Environmental Protection

Ministry of Mining and Energy

World Bank

EBRD

air pollution

air quality improvement measures

energy efficiency measures