State of play with the energy transformation in Romania
December 13, 2018 | Read more
Europe’s commitment to the Paris Agreement and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development means that the EU must drive an energy transformation, but in Romania, inadequate financial support and a lack of political will still stand in the way of progress.
Challenges of communicating the energy transformation in Latvia [Video]
December 12, 2018 | Read more
Renewable energy has gotten a bad rap in Latvia. Since the construction of hydroelectric power stations during the Soviet era to the recent installment of the first wind parks and the country’s feed-in tarrif system, the ‘mandatory procurement scheme,’ renewables have been used for nefarious purposes like fuelling populism during election campaigns.
Another half a million euros for coal from Romania’s state budget
December 12, 2018 | Read more
A Government Decision granting RON 2 775 722 (EUR 596 000) to Oltenia Energy Complex to expropriate the land needed for the planned Craiova Power Plant ash storage expansion has been put into public debate by the Ministry of Energy.
In Slovakia, a shining example of EU funds for renewables and families
December 11, 2018 | Read more
There is a sad joke in Slovakia that the country could become a museum for renewable energy sources (RES). Not because the Slovak physicist Aurel Stodola invented in 1928 the world’s oldest heat pump that still powers Geneva’s city hall, but because of its antiquated energy policy that lacks systematic support for renewables at the local and national levels.
As new mines mushroom in Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén (BAZ) county, Hungary, air pollution picks up the pace, our independent air monitoring shows. Authorities need to help people move towards cleaner heating systems and put an end to coal mining in the region.
Today 10 December marks the seventieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. To coincide with this milestone, Bankwatch together with more than 200 organisations globally has called on international financiers [1] to ensure that these institutions support the realisation of human rights, avoid causing or contributing to rights abuses, promote an enabling environment for public participation, and safeguard rights defenders.
