Environmental issues in Serbia

[1][2] The NATO bombings of 1999 caused lasting damage to the environment of Serbia, with several thousand tons of toxic chemicals stored in targeted factories being released into the soil, atmosphere and water basins affecting humans and the local wildlife.

[5] A 2003 study by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in Bosnia and Herzegovina stated that low levels of contaminate were found in drinking water and air particulate at DU penetrator impact points.

Yet, Pekka Haavisto, chairman of the UNEP DU projects stated, "The findings of this study stress again the importance of appropriate clean-up and civil protection measures in a post-conflict situation.

[7] The report states that the main sources of outdoor air pollution in Serbia include the energy sector, the transport sector, waste dump sites and industrial activities, such as the petrochemical industry complex in Pančevo and Novi Sad; cement factories in Popovac, Kosjerić and Beočin; chemical plants and metallurgical complexes in Smederevo, Sevojno and Bor; thermal power plants in Obrenovac, Lazarevac and Kostolac.

Other documented sources of air pollution include fossil fuel-based individual household heating in periurban and rural towns and increasing road traffic, especially in large cities such as Belgrade, Novi Sad and Niš.

In January 2020, hundreds of people, some wearing surgical masks and respirators, attended a protest in Belgrade, demanding the government tackle severe air pollution.

The state power company offers strong incentives and commits to buying electricity generated by the plants at a price 50 percent higher than the market rate.

According to Goran Trivan, the Minister of Environmental Protection, in the period from 2000 to 2015, the financial damage caused by climate change is estimated to be over five billion euros.

[10] Though it is part of the Paris Agreement, Serbia still invests in coal-fired power stations and it has still not passed environmental law and strategy in accordance with EU's climate change policy.