Studies
[NGO Study] Can the international financial institutions do more to support new renewables and energy efficiency in south-east Europe?
(July 1, 2010)
As Europe is “greening” its economy and gearing up to decarbonise by 2050, most south-east European (SEE) countries still view energy efficiency and renewable energy as greens on the side of their main dish. Coal power and large hydropower are still the favourites on the menu, as they depend on indigenous resources and keep energy import dependency lower. At the same time other abundant indigenous resources - the renewable ones - are not utilised, due to a lack of incentives for investors, public institutions and households.
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Flip through the study in our quick preview.
[NGO Study] Over the edge. Enel's plans to export its pollution to Porto Romano, Albania
(April 27, 2010)
The Italian energy giant Enel is planning to construct a coal-fired thermal power plant consisting of two 800 MW units at Porto Romano near the city of Durres in Albania. If constructed this would be the largest investment in the history of the Albanian energy industry. Eighty five percent of the electricity produced would be exported to Italy.
An analysis of Albania’s existing power plants, plans for new hydropower plants and wind power plants shows that from the point of view of security of electricity supply there is no need for such a large-scale thermal power plant as is being planned for Porto Romano. Thus, the main argument for the project - security of electricity supply - is unfounded.
This study aims to provide a counterbalance to the overly optimistic and incomplete claims made for the project by Enel and the Albanian government by drawing attention to its environmental, social and economic impacts, including an assessment of these in the wider context of European and international trends in energy and climate policy. Where no information is available, the study identifies the gaps that need to be filled.
Flip through the study in our quick preview.
An analysis of Albania’s existing power plants, plans for new hydropower plants and wind power plants shows that from the point of view of security of electricity supply there is no need for such a large-scale thermal power plant as is being planned for Porto Romano. Thus, the main argument for the project - security of electricity supply - is unfounded.
This study aims to provide a counterbalance to the overly optimistic and incomplete claims made for the project by Enel and the Albanian government by drawing attention to its environmental, social and economic impacts, including an assessment of these in the wider context of European and international trends in energy and climate policy. Where no information is available, the study identifies the gaps that need to be filled.
Flip through the study in our quick preview.
[NGO Study] Potential unfulfilled - EU funding and Cohesion policy can do more for sustainable climate and energy development in central and eastern Europe
(March 3, 2010)
This new analysis from CEE Bankwatch Network and Friends of the Earth Europe points to some alarming shortcomings in how billions of EU funds earmarked for clean energy projects in the new member states are being deployed.
It also calls for big increases in the marginal allocations of the EU funds that the new member states have thus far seen fit to give to clean energy schemes, citing widespread evidence from the ground that building efficiency schemes are ready to take off if they become more affordable and if EU money is better targeted.
Flip through the study in our quick preview.
It also calls for big increases in the marginal allocations of the EU funds that the new member states have thus far seen fit to give to clean energy schemes, citing widespread evidence from the ground that building efficiency schemes are ready to take off if they become more affordable and if EU money is better targeted.
Flip through the study in our quick preview.
[NGO Study] Change the lending, not the climate
(December 2, 2009)
CEE Bankwatch Network has worked with an external consultancy to conduct a rigorous analysis of the energy portfolio of the European Investment Bank from 2002 until the end of 2008. This was done in the context of the EU's climate and energy targets. As the EU's bank, the EIB is supposed to promote European objectives.
In spite of the clear evidence of the climate change challenge, and despite the challenge the EU's targets pose for its member states - especially the new member states in the east - the analysis reveals that the EIB continues to heavily support fossil fuels while its lending for renewable energy maintains a promising, if only rather steady, share. The vast potential for energy efficiency (and also some renewables) in the countries of central and eastern Europe is not, however, being well served by EIB energy investments. Other than the clear implications for climate mitigation, EIB reluctance to date to channel billions into clean energy initiatives in this region is hindering not only energy security but also the creation of new jobs and economic prosperity.
Flip through the study in our quick preview.
You can also read a four page summary here.
In spite of the clear evidence of the climate change challenge, and despite the challenge the EU's targets pose for its member states - especially the new member states in the east - the analysis reveals that the EIB continues to heavily support fossil fuels while its lending for renewable energy maintains a promising, if only rather steady, share. The vast potential for energy efficiency (and also some renewables) in the countries of central and eastern Europe is not, however, being well served by EIB energy investments. Other than the clear implications for climate mitigation, EIB reluctance to date to channel billions into clean energy initiatives in this region is hindering not only energy security but also the creation of new jobs and economic prosperity.
Flip through the study in our quick preview.
You can also read a four page summary here.
[NGO Study] Between a rock and a hard place. How local communities pay the cost of EBRD-financed gold mining projects.
(November 27, 2009)
As the EBRD prepares to develop a new sectoral policy on mining, this collection of case studies looks at the impacts on communities of the gold mining projects the bank has financed thus far.
From a cyanide spill in Kumtor, Kyrgyzstan, to defective public participation procedures in Bulgaria and severe subsidence in Shahumyan, Armenia, the case studies graphically illustrate the need for much greater scrutiny of proposed gold mining projects if the EBRD is to bring real benefits for local communities.
Flip through the study in our quick preview.
From a cyanide spill in Kumtor, Kyrgyzstan, to defective public participation procedures in Bulgaria and severe subsidence in Shahumyan, Armenia, the case studies graphically illustrate the need for much greater scrutiny of proposed gold mining projects if the EBRD is to bring real benefits for local communities.
Flip through the study in our quick preview.
[NGO Study] Risky deal, risky business: the Khudoni hydropower plant, Georgia
(June 26, 2009)
This report reviews documents provided by the Georgian government and the World Bank, and a number of independent research reports regarding the Georgian power sector and highlights the concerns of the local people towards the Khudoni HPP as expressed during the public hearings organized in Svaneti in summer 2008.
[NGO Study] Bubbling under the surface: The role of western public finance in the crisis hitting central and eastern Europe
(May 14, 2009)
The financial and economic crisis unravelling across the world economy has fundamentally changed economic policy imperatives for states and international financial institutions, including those operating at the European level. This situation offers the opportunity to articulate policies favourable to progressive social and environmental aims as integral parts of effective and transformative plans for economic recovery.
While today’s policy makers are unlikely to be moved by such arguments at this point, broader layers of social actors engaged in debates about the crisis most definitely will. This report seeks to provide guidance for their mobilisation by considering the context, formulation and delivery of crisis response policies by the EC, the EIB and the EBRD in relation to the CEE economies.
Full text
While today’s policy makers are unlikely to be moved by such arguments at this point, broader layers of social actors engaged in debates about the crisis most definitely will. This report seeks to provide guidance for their mobilisation by considering the context, formulation and delivery of crisis response policies by the EC, the EIB and the EBRD in relation to the CEE economies.
Full text
[NGO Study] ArcelorMittal: Going nowhere slowly. A review of the global steel giant's environmental and social impacts in 2008-2009.
(May 12, 2009)
The new report “ArcelorMittal – Going Nowhere Slowly: A review of the global steel giant's environmental and social impacts in 2008-2009” reviews the company’s environmental and social impacts during the year since the coalition published its first report on the company in May 2008.
The new report includes case studies from Bosnia-Herzegovina, the Czech Republic, India, Kazakhstan, Liberia, Romania and South Africa. In addition to pollution problems from existing plants the report includes case studies on two new planned investments. ArcelorMittal’s plans to build two giant steel mills in the Indian states of Orissa and Jharkand are heavily opposed by local tribal people, who would be displaced from their land. In Romania, the company is planning to participate in the controversial Cernavoda 3 and 4 nuclear reactors using Candu-6 technology, which critics such as Greenpeace claim is outdated and dangerous.
Flip through the study in our quick preview or have a look at the campaign banners that accompanied a public action in front of the AM headquarters and at the EBRD AGM in London.
The new report includes case studies from Bosnia-Herzegovina, the Czech Republic, India, Kazakhstan, Liberia, Romania and South Africa. In addition to pollution problems from existing plants the report includes case studies on two new planned investments. ArcelorMittal’s plans to build two giant steel mills in the Indian states of Orissa and Jharkand are heavily opposed by local tribal people, who would be displaced from their land. In Romania, the company is planning to participate in the controversial Cernavoda 3 and 4 nuclear reactors using Candu-6 technology, which critics such as Greenpeace claim is outdated and dangerous.
Flip through the study in our quick preview or have a look at the campaign banners that accompanied a public action in front of the AM headquarters and at the EBRD AGM in London.
[NGO Study] Never mind the balance sheet - the dangers posed by public-private partnerships in central and eastern Europe
(November 27, 2008)
In recent years public-private partnerships (PPPs)
have been heavily promoted in central and eastern
Europe (CEE), often giving the impression that where
infrastructure is concerned, PPPs are the only game in
town. Yet behind the plethora of conferences, workshops
and publications, few CEE countries have implemented
more than two or three PPP projects, and even fewer
truly successful projects.
As George Monbiot, UK author and investigative journalist, says of the Private Finance Initiative, the British variant on PPP: “The reality is that PFI, or “public private partnership” as the government now prefers to call it, is a scam. (...) Far from introducing market disciplines, it has become an official licence to fleece the taxpayer. Far from reducing the public sector borrowing requirement, PFI is, as the Accounting Standards Board has noted, simply an “an off-balance sheet fiddle”. Most alarmingly, the ministers I have spoken to simply do not understand how it works.”
Flip through the english version of the study in our quick preview or download a pdf in one of the languages below.
As George Monbiot, UK author and investigative journalist, says of the Private Finance Initiative, the British variant on PPP: “The reality is that PFI, or “public private partnership” as the government now prefers to call it, is a scam. (...) Far from introducing market disciplines, it has become an official licence to fleece the taxpayer. Far from reducing the public sector borrowing requirement, PFI is, as the Accounting Standards Board has noted, simply an “an off-balance sheet fiddle”. Most alarmingly, the ministers I have spoken to simply do not understand how it works.”
Flip through the english version of the study in our quick preview or download a pdf in one of the languages below.
[NGO Study] EU funds informer
(October 10, 2008)
The first issue of this new bulletin, prepared by CEE Bankwatch Network and Friends of the Earth Europe, aims to provide ground-level information and commentaries on the implementation of the cohesion policy in central and eastern Europe (CEE). It is part of the campaign “Billions for Sustainability” which gives a voice to local concerns over the isuse of EU money for economically, socially and environmentally controversial projects and calls for the EU Funds to truly benefit people living across Europe and their environment.
[NGO Study] Fuelling the fire: European Investment Bank financing for the incineration industry
(May 29, 2008)
The European Investment Bank is mandated to promote EU policy with its project investments and invested over EUR 1.5 billion in 33 waste management projects between 2000 and 2006, the majority of which were in the EU. If the EIB is to truly support the implementation of EU policy, this bias towards incineration investments must be halted. The EIB needs to seize the opportunity of the Waste Framework Directive revision to review and publish its waste lending policy, and to ensure that it promotes waste reduction and recycling in concrete financial terms rather than continuing to lend financial support to incineration.
[NGO Study] In the wake of ArcelorMittal - the global steel giant's local impacts
(May 13, 2008)
The publication shows how local residents, workers and the environment pay the price for ArcelorMittal's success. The compilation contains case studies examining Mittal's IFC- and EBRD-financed plants in Romania, Ukraine, Bosnia-Herzegovina, the Czech Republic and Kazakhstan.
[NGO Study] Energy Matters: the Vlora coastal terminal. Fact-finding mission report on energy and industry developments in Vlora, Albania
(April 5, 2008)
The report summerises the findings of a recent Bankwatch and partner NGO fact-finding mission to Albania, in which meetings with the Albanian authorities, IFIs, investors and affected communities provided insights into large industrial and energy developments in the region.
Bankwatch is seriously concerned about the lack of a coherent development strategy for Vlora district from the EBRD’s side as well as the imbalance in the EBRD’s overall lending portfolio in Albania which seems to favour energy, oil and heavy industry over agribusiness, tourism, energy efficiency and lending to small and medium enterprise.
Bankwatch is seriously concerned about the lack of a coherent development strategy for Vlora district from the EBRD’s side as well as the imbalance in the EBRD’s overall lending portfolio in Albania which seems to favour energy, oil and heavy industry over agribusiness, tourism, energy efficiency and lending to small and medium enterprise.
[NGO Study] EBRD financed Tbilisi Public Transport Project
(March 1, 2008)
Tbilisi, with a population of more than 1.5 million people, manifests all the signs of environmental stress - poor air quality, excessive noise, traffic congestion, loss of green areas and degradation of historical buildings and monuments. Road transport is responsible for an increasing share of total air emissions, their contribution rising from some 70 percent in 1991 to about 91 percent in 2005. In July 2005, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development lent EUR 3 million to the "Municipal Auto Transport Company Ltd". The project was aiming to purchase 150 municipal buses, spare parts and workshop equipment and reform the regulatory framework for public transport in Tbilisi. However, the implementation of the project has actually led to increased environmental and social stress, while the development of a sustainable public transport scheme that would mitigate existing problems is still not defined.
There is much to be done in order to reform the public transport management system in a way which responds to the needs of Tbilisi’s citizens but the top priority should be given to the development and public discussion of a Tbilisi City Sustainable Transport Management Plan and undertaking a social assessment to identify mitigation measures for vulnerable people.
There is much to be done in order to reform the public transport management system in a way which responds to the needs of Tbilisi’s citizens but the top priority should be given to the development and public discussion of a Tbilisi City Sustainable Transport Management Plan and undertaking a social assessment to identify mitigation measures for vulnerable people.
[NGO Study] The Gilgel Gibe affair: an analysis of the Gilbel Gibe hydroelectric projects in Ethiopia
(February 28, 2008)
The study illustrates the dangers that accompany large energy infrastructure
projects whenever the interests of a major private company coincide not only with weak
governance in the host country but also very clear willingness from financial institutions
to provide funding, in spite of alarming project oversights and impacts. The study shows
how goals to eradicate poverty and support local communities can be easily compromised
when major corporations and/or political elites are intent on maximising profits.
[NGO Study] Hellfire economics: multinational companies and the contract dispute over Kashagan, the world’s largest undeveloped oilfield
(January 12, 2008)
[NGO Study] Real energy security is staring us in the face. Renewable energy case studies from South East Europe
(December 18, 2007)
The publication sets out to provide a quick snapshot of renewable energy projects in south-east Europe. With a host of fossil fuel and nuclear projects currently being proposed across the region, sustainable energy initiatives have it difficult to reach the general public. While international financial flows generally follow the bigger, “easier-to-handle” projects, unfortunately only small drops are adding up to create a renewable energy and energy efficiency future. The case studies from Croatia, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Romania and Serbia show that renewable energy can have a significant role in lowering budgets for electricity, heating and hot water. The study concludes that renewable energy projects should be considered within a framework for sustainable development that integrates energy demand reduction and efficiency, a mix of renewable energy sources to meet an increasing proportion of overall energy demand and the protection of communities and biodiversity.
[NGO Study] Kashagan oil field development
(December 5, 2007)
Based on direct information fromlocal NGOs, research, results froma fact finding mission and spurred on by the lack ofmonitoring activities carried out on behalf or by any relevant international institutions, governments or financial institutions, this Report aims to increase awareness about possible negative impacts of the Kashagan oil field development among the public in European countries and to provide support to local NGOs in Kazakhstan.
The “Extractive industries: blessing or curse?” project aims to ensure that the performance of the Extractive Industries in developing countries is substantially improved, in order to ensure that it has a positive impact on poverty reduction and that it does not contribute to social and environmental problems.
The “Extractive industries: blessing or curse?” project aims to ensure that the performance of the Extractive Industries in developing countries is substantially improved, in order to ensure that it has a positive impact on poverty reduction and that it does not contribute to social and environmental problems.
[NGO Study] Kaniv pump storage plant: project risks
(November 12, 2007)
In March 2006, the Ukrainian Cabinet of Ministers approved the "Energy Strategy of Ukraine till 2030." The Strategy foresees the growth of electric power generation mainly by the development of Ukraine's power engineering due to the priority usage of nuclear energy. As nuclear power plants (NPPs) do not represent loads-shifting generating capacities, there is a problem with loads-shifting in the network. For this purpose the Strategy foresees the installation of loads-shifting capacities - or pump storage plants (PSPs). But the construction of the Kaniv PSP is an unlikely solution to the problems of the Ukrainian power sector and will have a number of negative environmental, social and economical impacts. The present report provides a detailed analysis of those impacts.
[NGO Study] Raising the bar on big dams: making the case for dam policy reform at the European Investment Bank
(November 5, 2007)
The European Investment Bank has been involved in a number of large dam projects in recent years, many of them in Africa. All could have been improved – sometimes significantly so – by more careful planning and better implementation standards. Despite making vague references to the recommendations of the World Commission on Dams, the EIB currently has no sector policy for dams. Many of the EIB’s large dam projects have also had World Bank involvement, and the World Bank’s standards and due diligence drove the process, with the EIB bringing little or no “added value” regarding safeguard policies or improved planning processes.
This report describes the problems with past EIB dam projects, how the WCD might have been invoked to bring “added value” to the process, and ways forward to improve the EIB’s role in water and energy projects in future.
This report describes the problems with past EIB dam projects, how the WCD might have been invoked to bring “added value” to the process, and ways forward to improve the EIB’s role in water and energy projects in future.
CEE Bankwatch Network gratefully acknowledges EU funding support.