Croatia’s most important natural resources are oil, natural gas and bauxite. Oil is mainly extracted in Slavonia in the east and together with hydropower is the most important source of energy.
There are also smaller amounts of coal, iron ore, lime and plaster, among others, but the mining industry is of less importance.
COUNTRYAAH: Major exports by Croatia with a full list of the top products exported by the country. Includes trade value in U.S. dollars and the percentage for each product category.
Energy needs are covered by half of domestic production. The country imports 80 percent of the oil consumed, as well as 40 percent of natural gas and all coal.
Around a third of the electricity demand is also covered by imports. More than half of the electricity produced in Croatia comes from hydropower. One fifth of the electricity comes from the nuclear power plant in Krško, located in Slovenia and co-owned with the neighboring country. An earlier dispute between the countries regarding the ownership of the nuclear power plant was largely resolved in 2003 and the countries now share electricity. In 2016, Croatia and Slovenia agreed to extend the life of the work by 20 years, to 2043.
Renewable energy sources besides hydropower have so far been quite poorly developed.
Abbreviationfinder: A popular acronym site in the world covering abbreviation for each country. For example, HR stands for Croatia. Visit itypeusa for more information about Croatia.
As part of the accession to the EU, the state-owned energy companies have been adapted to a liberalized energy market.
Air pollution and logging are among the more serious environmental problems. Watercourses on the coasts are threatened by emissions from both industries and households.
FACTS – ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENT
Energy use per person
1,898 kilograms of oil equivalent (2014)
Electricity consumption per person
3714 kWh, kWh (2014)
Carbon dioxide emissions in total
16 843 thousand tonnes (2014)
Carbon dioxide emissions per inhabitant
4.0 tons (2014)
The share of energy from renewable sources
33.1 percent (2015)
2014
October
War veterans initiate protest
War veterans of the 1990s war are launching demonstrations outside the War Veterans Ministry in Zagreb in protest of their poor living conditions and, they believe, the lack of appreciation and understanding from the government. To emphasize that they do not intend to give up (they demand, among other things, the departure of the war veteran minister), they set up a tent camp outside the ministry.
July
Same-sex marriage is accepted
Parliament, by a large majority, adopts a law on partnerships that gives same-sex couples all the rights a marriage gives, with one exception: they are not allowed to adopt. The law is passed despite the fact that two-thirds of the voting Croats earlier in a referendum said they wanted to ban a same-sex marriage (see December 2013).
May
Opposition successes in EU elections
May 25
The election to the European Parliament will be a success for the opposition parties: the center-right party coalition under HDZ retains its six seats, one of which goes to an EU-skeptical Croatian extremist nationalist, while the left-wing coalition led by the Social Democratic ruling party SDP gets rid of one place and thus gets four. The remaining mandate goes to the newly formed Green Party Orah (Walnut); the right-wing Alliance for Croatia will be without a mandate. The turnout is 25 percent.
April
Journalist fined for “humiliation”
Journalist Slavica Lukić in the Jutarnji List newspaper is sentenced to € 3,700 in fines for writing that the private health clinic Medikol was heavily indebted and bankrupt, despite receiving 77 million euros in state money. Lukić is sentenced for joking the clinic, not for reporting anything untrue.
March
Sanads is sentenced to corruption
In the biggest corruption trial in Croatia’s history, former Prime Minister Ivo Sanader is sentenced to nine years in prison for bringing the equivalent of nearly $ 13 million from state-owned companies to his own account and to HDZ, the party he led for many years. Both Sanader and HDZ are also sentenced to pay back some money, and the party is fined. For Sanader, who has already been sentenced to ten years in prison for, among other things, profiting from the 1990s war in the Balkans (see November 2012), more corruption trials await. Several others are convicted at the same time as Sanader.
