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.
The historic amount of EU funds now available represents a golden opportunity to increase biodiversity spending and fully realise the objectives of the biodiversity strategy.
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.
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.
Tashlyk pumped storage plant, Ukraine
The Tashlyk pumped storage plant is a massive hydropower project. Its operation extends to protected areas with peculiar microclimate features that are rich in biodiversity and endemic flora. These unique landscapes create a spectacular tourist attraction. The territory is also of great historical and archaeological significance. However, all of this would be flooded if the Tashlyk pumped storage plant expansion project is completed.
Latest news
IFC Funding for Paravani HPP
Bankwatch in the media | 23 June, 2011European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and International Finance Corporation (IFC) will provide USD 115.5 million credit to finance construction of 87 MW Paravani hydro power plant in the south-west of Georgia.
Read moreBringing Georgian realities to the EBRD drawing board
Blog entry | 30 May, 2011David Chipashvili from Bankwatch member group Green Alternative in Georgia talks about the opportunities and threats in bringing concerns from the ground to the attention of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.
Read moreEconomic liberalisation trumps democratisation in EU Neighborhood Policy, says Bankwatch
Press release | 2 March, 2011The strategic review of the European Neighbourhood Policy initiated by the European Commission last year should ensure that funds disbursed through the ENPI mechanism truly promote the development of democratic institutions, human rights and environmental sustainability in Partnership countries, says CEE Bankwatch Network.
Read moreRelated publications
Behind the ‘green recovery’: How the EU recovery fund is failing to protect nature and what can still be saved
Report | 2 June, 2022 | Download PDFThis report prepared by CEE Bankwatch Network and EuroNatur, shines a spotlight on the implementation of recovery funds, and reveals a series of harmful reforms and investments for biodiversity set to be financed in nine central and eastern European Member States (Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Poland, Romania and Slovenia).
Position paper: Kosovo’s National Energy and Climate Plan (NECP)
Position paper | 31 May, 2022 | Download PDFThis position paper aims to provide recommendations for Kosovo’s National Energy and Climate Plan, which is currently being developed, from an environmental sustainability and public inclusion standpoint.
Just transition project implementation checklist
Checklist | 29 April, 2022 | Download PDFThe paper outlines what comes next after the preparation of the Territorial Just Transition Plans and their final approval by the European Commission. It takes a look not only at the actual planning and spending of the funds provided in accordance with the approved Plans, but also at the challenges faced by the regions and the level to which they are prepared to address them. The checklist provides an easy-to-use overview of what each region should have in place in order to make sure it reaches its professed goals along with a discussion of each issue, relevant examples and references to more detailed reports, documents or regulations concerning particular points.
