For the expansion of the Drmno mine, no environmental impact assessment has been carried out at this time. It is likely that for the expansion as well as for the construction of the required infrastructure farmland will be expropriated and a railway will go through the nearby village which may require resettlement. 

The UN Espoo convention stipulates that any thermal power station or combustion installation with a heat output of 300 MW or more could have transboundary implications and should therefore undergo an extensive environmental impact assessment in the potentially affected neighbouring countries. In the case of Kostolac this would be Romania, which according to a request for information to the Romanian ministry of environment and climate change by Bankwatch Romania in March 2014 has not happened. Under the Espoo convention, the Romanian public have to be given a chance to take part in the environmental assessment procedures, as all information regarding the planned construction of Kostolac was only ever published in Serbian the Romanian public has not been given this chance.

Serbia is prone to natural disasters, including such which will only be exacerbated by climate change; floods, droughts and forest fires. Floods in May 2014 which claimed several lives in Bosnia and Serbia and which also threathened the Nikola Tesla power plant, Serbia's largest plant. The floods also caused a nearby coal mine to be flooded already decreasing plant capacity. The clean up for such -increasing- extreme weather events are only increasing, Serbia should invest in renewable energy rather than infrastructure vulnerable to natural disasters. Building a  new unit at the lignite power plant both contributes immensily to climate change and it will not contribute to a stable electricity supply for Serbia.   

Kostolac currently has two ash depositories, one of these is expected to shut down in the near future since it is almost at full capacity. The newer ash depository has been the subject of several controversies and not yet fully functional. 

Serbia is vulnerable to natural disasters such as floodings and drought, floodings pose a huge risk to the operational capacity of power plants as was demonstrated in May 2014 when Serbia's biggest power plant was flooded. Power plants require water for their cooling systems also leaving them vulnerable to drought as well.

Due to flooding in 2014 Serbia has had to import substantial amounts of coal mostly from Romania. Corruption cases have been prevalent in the (coal) energy sector in Serbia lately, with new arrests in January this year. With 70% of the Serbian energy supply originating from coal, the urgency to keep the power plants running gives way to negligence and manipulation and opens the door to corruption (Bankwatch report).

On the basis of the Agreement on economic and technical cooperation in the field of infrastructure between the Government of the Republic of Serbia and the Government of the People's Republic of China, it is possible that CMEC is exempt from VAT and customs duties for the import and supply of goods and services for the infrastructure projects (Danube dock and railway infrastructure) for a value of 37.82 million USD (Source CRTA Report).