The quickly prepared Hungarian energy emergency action plan, which comes into effect today on 1 August, is supposed to increase national energy supply security through seven measures. But as our assessment and those of other experts show, even if the plan runs only temporarily and in the short term, the consequences will be felt by Hungarian citizens in the longer term.
EIB moves to curb intermediated hydropower financing
July 29, 2022 | Read more
The EU’s house bank has recently updated its exclusion list, a document detailing what kind of projects it will not finance. This finally closes a long-standing loophole allowing ill-suited intermediaries to finance hydropower projects.
In an attempt to end reliance on Russian gas, the European Commission is seeking to speed up renewable energy deployment. But its proposals threaten to erode decades of hard-won EU environmental and public consultation achievements.
Skavica Dam — the last thing Albania needs
July 22, 2022 | Read more
Instead of increasing its energy security, Albania is pushing the construction of yet more hydropower, leading to thousands losing their land and the potential extinction of Europe’s rarest cat. Will the US International Development Finance Corporation really consider financing Skavica?
With the energy transition well underway, and the end of the era of coal clearly on the horizon, biomass for heating is gradually becoming a favorite for governments in the Western Balkans and their financial partners. ‘Tree power’ might sound like the greenest kind of energy, but burning timber from forests to heat homes is anything but sustainable.
EIB Global: new branding, old problems
July 20, 2022 | Read more
With the launch of its new development branch EIB Global, the European Investment Bank (EIB) has shown its appetite for becoming a significant player in the field of development finance. However, without a major change in the Bank’s management and the shareholders’ approach to the impacts of its operations, EIB Global will remain a public relations exercise and a lost cause.
