A clash is raging between nature and finance. On the one hand, the EU is striving to improve the deteriorating state of nature across Europe, with initiatives like the Biodiversity Strategy 2030 and the European Green Deal. On the other, massive amounts of public money continue to flow to infrastructure projects with devastating impacts on the natural world. Our work where finance meets the natural world advocates for adequate protection and restoration projects to ensure a green future for all.
IN FOCUS
Rivers and communities
The countries of the Energy Community Treaty have diverse energy mixes, but hydropower has traditionally played a strong role in many of them. Albania is almost completely reliant on dams for its domestic electricity generation, followed by Georgia with an average of 80 per cent of electricity generated by hydropower and Montenegro with an average of 55 per cent.
EU funds and biodiversity
In May 2020, EU leaders committed to an ambitious Biodiversity Strategy for 2030, outlining the clear need to act on biodiversity loss and address the failing health of nature.
Discussions are now underway to agree on a new EU budget which will run from 2027 to 2034. This represents a golden opportunity to improve biodiversity spending to achieve the objectives of the biodiversity strategy in full.
As well as addressing the biodiversity crisis, strategically supporting nature through EU funds is also one of the most effective ways to tackle climate change, while providing jobs and improved health at the same time.
Yet, with many of the previous strategy’s objectives left unachieved, the pressure now mounts for this decade. Never before has there been so much potential – and urgency – to use EU funds and investments to address the biodiversity crisis.
Related projects
Komarnica hydropower plant, Montenegro
Planned by Montenegro’s state-owned electricity utility EPCG, the need for the Komarnica hydropower plant has never been proven.
EU funds and biodiversity
Nature in Europe and beyond is in crisis. 81 per cent of habitats in the EU are in ‘poor condition’, and without swift action this will only become worse. We need systemic and wide-reaching action and investments to tackle biodiversity loss and help restore nature before it is too late. The EU has pledged at least 20 billion per year from the EU budget to be earmarked for biodiversity by 2027, offering enormous potential to restore and protect nature, providing this is properly invested. We are closely monitoring the proposal for the next EU Budget, to be released in 2025, to improve the use of EU biodiversity financing and to ensure these public funds work for – not against – nature.
Buk Bijela dam and the Upper Drina cascade
Planned as a joint project of public utilities owned by the Republika Srpska entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia, Buk Bijela on the upper Drina is being pushed forward in violation of local legislation and international conventions.
Latest news
Central Asia: environmental groups and scientists call on international financial institutions to preserve key freshwater bodies and stop supporting destructive hydropower projects
Press release | 14 March, 2025The 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).
Read moreGreening the EU budget: why climate mainstreaming needs reform
Bankwatch in the media | 26 February, 2025CEE Bankwatch Network (2024) analysed the practical implementation of the DNSH principle in the RRF using six case studies. In some cases, the simplified procedure relied solely on uncritically accepting the countries’ declarations.
Read moreWhy China is Building a New Road to Russia
Bankwatch in the media | 26 February, 2025“The Khada Valley is a very small valley. It’s located very close to the capital [Tbilisi] and it’s unique in terms of its cultural heritage,” said Manana Kochladze, the human rights and democratisation lead at Bankwatch.
Read moreRelated publications
Biodiversity funding in the EU’s next long-term budget: Opportunities and risks for national plans
Statement | 27 March, 2025 | Download PDFThis joint statement highlights the key opportunities and challenges for improving the design and deployment of biodiversity financing in the next EU budget, particularly if national plans are introduced.
Avoiding the death of LIFE: Why Europe’s flagship environmental programme must remain part of the next EU budget
Issue paper | 24 March, 2025 | Download PDFThe LIFE programme, a proven and effective resource for financing biodiversity, is widely regarded as one of the EU’s best performing funds.
Kungrad 1-3 wind power project, Uzbekistan
Policy comments | 11 March, 2025 | Download PDFKungrad is one of several large-scale renewable projects featuring extensive transmission lines slated for remote, wild areas in Central Asia – an alarming practice that hinders the sustainable energy transition.
