Destined for coal?: A "hierarchy of harms" and the prospects of renewable energy in Kosovo

Abstract

Relying on interviews conducted in the summer of 2019 with parliamentary advisors, civil society activists, public officials and the EU, OSCE, and UNDP missions in Kosovo, this study provides an overview of the debates about the building of the new coal power plant by a US-led (UK-based) Company ContourGlobal. It discusses how different actors in Kosovo state and society approach the renewable energy question. An important obstacle against Kosovo's transition to renewable energy derives from the absence of consensus about the main threats and goals facing Kosovo. In this context, rationalist and constructivist stances imply different "hierarchies of harms". © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022. All rights reserved.