Valjevo

Valjevo exists because the Kolubara River carved a passage through western Serbia's mountains—and because 2.2 billion tonnes of lignite lie beneath the surrounding basin. As the seat of the Kolubara District, the city of 60,000 coordinates a region whose identity is inseparable from coal. The Kolubara mining complex produces 22.6 million tonnes annually, generating 52% of Serbia's electricity. When the mines opened in the late 19th century, they powered Serbia's industrialization; today they power the nation's grid while choking its air.

Valjevo bears the environmental cost. In January 2024, PM10 concentrations hit 385 micrograms per cubic meter—briefly making it the world's most polluted city. The air quality regularly rates "very unhealthy," especially in winter when coal heating compounds industrial emissions. This is the transaction that company towns make: jobs and electricity in exchange for respiratory disease and shortened lifespans. The mining complex employs nearly 12,000 people; the alternatives in this valley are limited.

The energy transition threatens this bargain. Serbia's 2040 strategy projects halving lignite demand; the 2024 National Energy and Climate Plan delays coal plant closures to 2045 but the trajectory is downward. By 2026, Valjevo faces what all coal regions face: whether the transition will be managed or catastrophic, whether replacement industries—Gorenje already makes appliances here—can absorb workers before the mines close. The lignite that built the city may have a twenty-year horizon; the pollution is immediate.