Where vested interests lie: An analysis of Kazakhstan’s coal, oil and gas industries
March 26, 2025
This study examines the practical steps Kazakhstan is taking to reduce the production of fossil fuels – specifically oil, gas and coal – in light of its commitment to achieving carbon neutrality by 2060.
Central Asia: environmental groups and scientists call on international financial institutions to preserve key freshwater bodies and stop supporting destructive hydropower projects
March 14, 2025
The future of Central Asia’s key rivers and lakes is at risk, warn international environmental groups Rivers without Boundaries, International Rivers, Friends of the Earth US, Urgewald and CEE Bankwatch Network in a formal request sent today to the World Bank, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), European Investment Bank (EIB), Asian Development Bank (ADB), Eurasian Development Bank (EDB), Islamic Development Bank (ISDB) and Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB).
Free-flowing rivers in Central Asia
March 3, 2025
Central Asian rivers are under threat from hundreds of new hydropower plants. We have created a map of the key rivers in the region that need urgent protection and are calling on the development banks to stop their destruction.
Countering shrinking space: How multilateral development banks can empower civil society in the Western Balkans, Caucasus and Central Asia
February 25, 2025
This report examines how multilateral development banks have failed to adequately protect civil society in the Caucasus, Western Balkans, and Central Asia.
How to interact with development banks lending to hydropower projects in Central Asia: A toolkit for civil society activists
February 3, 2025
This toolkit is aimed primarily at civil society organisations in Central Asia tackling the construction of dams or other unsustainable water infrastructure.
EBRD’s Independent Project Accountability Mechanism investigates the Indorama Agro cotton project in Uzbekistan
January 16, 2025
Following multiple allegations of human rights violations by Indorama Agro on a controversial cotton project funded by public development banks, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD)’s Independent Project Accountability Mechanism (IPAM) has finally launched an investigation to determine whether the project adheres to the EBRD’s environmental and social standards.
Is crypto keeping Tajikistan’s Rogun Dam project afloat?
December 23, 2024
In a letter sent earlier this year to Bankwatch, World Bank officials defended Rogun as a potentially “transformative clean energy project that will improve domestic and regional welfare and contribute to the decarbonization of regional power grids in Central Asia, provided it is managed under sound macro-economic, commercial, and social and environmental sustainability frameworks.”
Joint statement: Urgent call to IFC and EBRD to impose conditionalities on Oyu Tolgoi’s new loan
December 20, 2024
Civil society organisations from across the globe have signed a joint statement opposing a proposed new loan for the Oyu Tolgoi mine in Mongolia.
The World Bank should reconsider its mega dam project in Tajikistan
December 16, 2024
Providing funding to a repressive regime to construct the ‘highest dam in the world’ is a recipe for disaster.
SOCAR – Azerbaijan’s Fossil Fuel Proxy
October 8, 2024
As Azerbaijan prepares to host the UN’s 29th Climate Conference (COP29) in November, environmental and human rights organizations Urgewald and CEE Bankwatch launch a special report on the country’s state-owned oil and gas company, SOCAR.
