United in spirit with yesterday’s blog post on the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development’s coal lending, Visar Azemi from the Kosovo Civil Society Consortium for Sustainable Development calls on the UK government to not support the Kosova e Re lignite power plant via the World Bank and make its promise to end overseas coal financing a reality.
Bankwatch joins NGO boycott of COP19
November 21, 2013 | Read more
Today, Bankwatch joined other organisations walking out of Warsaw Climate Conference. Under the Polish government’s leadership the talks have utterly failed to address the urgency of the situation. Targets have been unambitious, the interests of the fossil fuel industry have been allowed to dominate the discussions, and there is no new financing on the table for climate mitigation and adaptation. This conference has lost credibility in the fight against climate change.
The complicated nature, hidden future debts and other characteristics of public-private partnerships have led the Czech Republic’s national security service to consider them a potential threat to public interests.
United Kingdom’s retreat from coal increases pressure on EBRD
November 21, 2013 | Read more
With the United Kingdom, another major shareholder of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development is divesting from coal overseas. What does this mean for the upcoming decision on the EBRD’s energy strategy?
Monday morning in Warsaw, climate activists staged a public action in front of the Polish Ministry of Economy – the venue for the greenwashing Coal and Climate Summit – to voice their outrage and reiterate a simple reality: there is no such thing as clean coal.
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development helped solve conflicts between locals and Ukrainian state company Ukrenergo about an EBRD financed transmission line. On close inspection, the case illustrates that without close monitoring and support for local communities, it is left to chance and locals’ dedication that conflicts are being noticed in the first place.