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
Free-flowing rivers in Central Asia
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.
Emerald Network in the Western Balkans
Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Serbia are required to establish a sufficient number of Emerald Network sites as signatories to the Bern Convention. However, since 2011, not a single new site has been proposed and many stunning rivers remain unprotected. The #EmeraldForRivers campaign aims to support governments in expanding the Emerald Network.
Turnu Măgurele – Nikopol Hydraulic Structures Assembly on the Danube river, Romania and Bulgaria
The project, if built, would not only devastate critical habitats, leading to the potential extinction of species such as the Danube sturgeons, but also displace local communities, disrupt existing investments, and violate several EU environmental directives.
Latest news
Un paradis naturel bulgare menacé par une autoroute européenne
Bankwatch in the media | 17 May, 2019Dans le sud-ouest de la Bulgarie, les gorges de Kresna hébergent une biodiversité remarquable. Or, un projet autoroutier financé par l’Union européenne menace ce paradis des oiseaux. Les habitants appellent à l’aide.Source: Un paradis naturel bulgare m
Read moreEBRD tightens standards in response to Balkan hydropower boom
Blog entry | 16 May, 2019As a result of public resistance to small-scale hydropower projects in the Balkans, from the beginning of 2020, the EBRD will ask commercial banks to refer all high-risk projects – including all hydropower plants – for additional checks. The EBRD also requires them to meet higher environmental standards than previously. The bank will ask that such projects are disclosed to the public on the financial intermediary’s website, finally increasing disclosure on these hitherto hidden projects.
Read moreIndigenous communities in Georgia threatened by a major hydropower project financed with European public money
Blog entry | 10 May, 2019There are many reasons why the Nenskra hydropower plant in Georgia should not be built at all. The project is set to have devastating environmental and social impacts, and its economics are particularly shoddy.
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.
