When the EU’s bank can’t kick the fossil fuels habit
March 27, 2019 | Read more
As the European Investment Bank (EIB) is nowadays preparing a new Energy Lending Policy to guide its investment in energy projects, it seems the world’s largest public lender is not willing to acknowledge its contribution to climate change, the biggest crisis currently facing humanity.
New report highlights misuse of banking secrecy rules
March 26, 2019 | Read more
BankTrack’s study finds that client confidentiality is not an absolute legal requirement in any of the world’s major banking centres. Banks can – and do – include the right to disclose information into their contracts. Will the EIB & EBRD acknowledge this in their policies on intermediated lending?
EIB and Volkswagen keen to return to business as usual
March 7, 2019 | Read more
Long overdue, and short on content, a compact version of the investigation report on the role of EIB money in the Dieselgate scandal affirms Bankwatch’s revelations that helped trigger this important inquiry. But in its aftermath, there is little to suggest that the EU’s bank has done anything to ensure that the public money it manages will not be misused.
A billions-worth problem
March 6, 2019 | Read more
Clean air has become a rarity in the Western Balkans, and so has proper air quality monitoring. In Europe, a whooping EUR 11 billion in lost productivity and health costs caused by air pollution from coal plants in the region dwarf the investments in the implementation of air quality legislation. The result is an incomplete and unreliable air quality monitoring system.
New investigation in Kresna gorge reveals another major breach of law
February 15, 2019 | Read more
An independent investigation by a Bulgarian TV channel bTV discovered progressing construction works in the Kresna gorge area even though the official procurement procedure is still ongoing.
Croatian coal plant must not be resurrected
February 13, 2019 | Read more
The Plomin 1 coal plant, on Croatia’s Istrian coast, is already 50 years old. In 2017 it closed due to a fire. Yet the Croatian Ministry of Environmental Protection and Energy looks set to allow Plomin 1’s owner, HEP, to bring it back from the dead without even an environmental impact assessment.
