The need for phasing out peat to reduce climate crises: Latvia’s challenges and opportunities
March 25, 2025
The most significant uses of peat in the world are for the creation of soil substrates and the production of energy. In 2022, the peat sector was responsible for 10.7 per cent of Latvia’s total greenhouse gas emissions. Peatlands store twice as much carbon as forests worldwide.
Jiříkov’s path to a clean energy future
March 20, 2025
The profound transformation of Europe’s energy sector in response to climate change and the goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions is having a particularly significant impact on regions that have long relied on fossil fuels, especially coal mining.
Preparing municipalities for the future: A guide to decarbonisation solutions
March 18, 2025
This guide provides an overview of possible funding streams and necessary steps to secure decarbonisation solutions for municipalities.
Zero Waste Europe: Despite EU waste management budget, CEE states struggle to catch up
March 17, 2025
Report co-authors Fidanka Bacheva-McGrath, strategic area leader at CEE Bankwatch Network, and Evgenia Tasheva from the Za Zemiata Zero Waste team, tell us that: “EU funding has disbursed significant amounts to much-needed investments in CEE since 2021, at least EUR 584 million went to waste incineration, and only EUR 228 million to biomass plants, mainly in the fund’s largest beneficiaries, such as Czechia, Poland, and Romania.”
Czechia wants to phase out coal. But is natural gas the solution?
March 10, 2025
According to calculations by CEE Bankwatch, the Czech plants near Vrato and Opatovice alone are getting a total of almost 350 million euros in subsidies from the EU Modernisation Fund.
EU budget gap holding back municipal waste reform and decarbonisation in central and eastern Europe
March 10, 2025
A new report by Bankwatch, Za Zemiata and Zelena Akcija, in collaboration with Zero Waste Europe, reveals that current EU budget allocations for circular economy and municipal waste management measures are insufficient to help central and eastern European countries catch up with the EU’s decarbonisation targets.
Waste management and the circular economy in central and eastern Europe: An analysis of EU cohesion policy funding
March 10, 2025
This report assesses the impact of cohesion policy funding on the capacity and progress of selected central and eastern European countries in building efficient waste management systems, an essential component of the EU’s new Circular Economy Action Plan.
Reforming public investment management in Ukraine: An analysis of Ukraine’s Single Project Pipeline
March 7, 2025
This report assesses the state of public investment management in Ukraine during the current transitional phase as well as the quality of project concepts within the Single Project Pipeline across five sectors of economic activity.
Guidelines for selecting just transition projects in Ukraine
February 20, 2025
Despite the ongoing war, Ukraine remains steadfast in its commitment to a just transition. As an EU accession candidate, Ukraine must integrate the Just Transition Mechanism’s principles and criteria into its national policies. Since Ukraine plans to join the EU before its coal phase-out in 2035, the Just Transition Fund regulation provides the most relevant framework for meeting these requirements.
Hungary’s fracking shame: Green groups challenge expansion of controversial Corvinus project
February 13, 2025
Shale gas extraction, or fracking, is so infamous for its environmental impacts that it is banned in multiple European countries. In Hungary, however, the authorities are looking to expand a fracking project near the border with Romania, despite it already worsening the climate crisis and threatening local agriculture. Campaigners are challenging these risky plans.
