Simply put, the significant potential of EU funding is not being used for nature, and this must change.
After years of trying to use EU funds to build a motorway through a Natura 2000 zone, Bulgaria now has a chance to spend EU money to counter the increasing traffic in Kresna Gorge and protect its biodiversity.
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and Bosnia and Herzegovina’s energy utility Elektroprivreda BiH are signing today an agreement formalizing the Bank’s commitment to consider financial support for a particularly questionable energy project in Tuzla. But the public is barely aware of what this risky investment could bring to local communities.
Without proper funding and the removal of administrative and legal barriers, community energy will remain an unattainable goal.
Armenia’s government and investors have failed to prevent human rights abuses related to the Amulsar gold mine. As we await the outcome of an EBRD investigation, environmental and human rights defenders continue to face threats. New reports show how the policies that should protect human rights and environmental defenders have failed to stop a project whose costs outweigh the benefits.
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.
