UPDATED: New documents on European Investment Bank loans to Volkswagen
January 18, 2016 | Read more
Documents obtained by Bankwatch provide more details for a European Investment Bank statement that its loans to Volkswagen may have been connected to the car makers use of cheating devices to rig emission tests.
Romania and the Energy Union: little more than wishful thinking
January 14, 2016 | Read more
When Maroš Šefčovič, the Commission’s Vice President for the Energy Union visited Bucharest in October 2015 to discuss Romania’s role in the overhaul of Europe’s energy sector, his speech seemed promising at first. It focused on renewables, energy efficiency and research and innovation – all issues that are rarely on the Romanian public agenda. But eventually, much like the Commission’s assessment for Romania (pdf) that was presented during the visit, the message and its level of ambition felt more like much ado about nothing.
No-one will ‘freeze to death’ if the planned lignite-fired power plant in Kosovo does not receive support from multilateral development banks, but if it does, low-income households may well end up choosing between electricity and food. How can an institution, whose very mission is to end poverty, justify this project?
Success: 391 hectares of Romanian forest saved in 2015
January 11, 2016 | Read more
With one more positive court decision just before the end of the year, Bankwatch Romania had a lot to celebrate in 2015.
Following Bankwatch’s revelations about toxic pollutants at the Tsumeb smelter in Namibia, the smelter’s owner, Canadian mining company Dundee Precious Metals (DPM), contested our findings in Namibian news reports. Without substantiating its claims with facts, however, and in light of the results of local health surveys the company’s reassurances ring hollow and meaningless.
9 reasons why the EU’s bank is no climate leader
December 8, 2015 | Read more
The European Investment Bank’s track record stands in stark contrast to its pose as a hero in the fight against climate change.