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.
Kosovo’s parliament is currently scrutinizing a new law on integrated pollution prevention and control. Its aim is positive – to tighten Kosovo’s standards. But as written now, it risks doing the opposite.
International financial institutions’ support for hydropower in Central Asia and Caucasus is fuel for environmental damage and human rights violations.
Kosovo, almost entirely reliant on coal for its energy, has nevertheless been hard-hit by the ongoing energy crisis. What steps should the country take to address this, and at the same time end its reliance on fossil fuels?
