The European Parliament’s Environment Committee is currently considering the European Commission’s carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM) proposal. But while most of the debate focuses on free allowances, it is crucial to tighten the provisions on the power sector.
In Czechia, dubious projects funded from covid support
February 3, 2022 | Read more
Inflation is all over the news in Czechia these days. The prices of electricity, housing, goods and services are on the rise. One of the reasons behind this is the government’s excessive spending. While some of the budget items have been openly discussed, others are hidden to the public. One example is the COVID Plus state aid programme worth billions of Czech crowns for large export companies.
The EIB’s safeguard rules must match its global ambitions
February 1, 2022 | Read more
The EU’s house bank has great development aspirations, but its draft environmental and social policy has dangerous gaps that will come back to haunt it.
As the EIB prepares to adopt a new environmental and social policy next week, an NGO complaint to the Bank’s Complaint Mechanism shows why the Bank’s standards for financial intermediaries urgently need to be tightened.
In 2021, the Bulgarian (interim) government announced that it had decided to transform the huge Maritza Iztok 2 coal-fired power plant into a steam-gas plant – (to replace 1.4 GW of coal capacity with a minimum of 1 GW of gas). The government has sought funding from the EU’s Recovery and Resilience Facility, the Modernisation Fund and other unnamed private sources.
Modernisation Fund to boost fossil fuels in Poland
January 21, 2022 | Read more
Billions of euros earmarked for a green transformation and renewables may instead finance fossil gas and waste incineration. Fears are coming true that without transparent public oversight, the Modernisation Fund would become a pipeline for projects harmful to the climate and environment. The Polish example shows that investments banned from the Cohesion and recovery funds are moved to the Modernisation Fund.
