Environmental groups challenge backdoor dismantling of EU nature safeguards
March 9, 2023
CEE Bankwatch Network and ÖKOBÜRO have initiated legal action (1) to uphold EU environmental law and public consultation requirements when building renewable energy facilities. The groups argue that an emergency regulation adopted by the Council of the European Union in December 2022 breaches EU and international law.
Successful renewables acceleration needs more public participation, not less
February 27, 2023
In December 2022, the Council of the European Union adopted an emergency regulation aimed at speeding up renewable energy deployment. But Member States have to uphold environmental safeguards and consult the public if they don’t want to end up doing the opposite, warns our new position paper.
Position paper for EU Member States on applying Council Regulation (EU) 2022/2577 to accelerate the deployment of renewable energy
February 27, 2023
Council Regulation (EU) 2022/2577 of 22 December 2022 rightly aims to accelerate the deployment of renewable energy. But although it contains some useful provisions, it raises serious concerns about the legal basis used for its adoption, the extent to
Western Balkans: scientists and NGO representatives call for more rivers to be protected as part of the Emerald Network
February 13, 2023
Today, scientists and non-governmental organisations from 11 countries have published a list of 88 rivers they consider high priority for protection, urging Western Balkan countries that have signed the Convention on the Conservation of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats (Bern Convention) to expand the Emerald Network in the region.
Joint Statement On the Expansion of the Emerald Network in Countries of the Western Balkans by scientists and representatives of NGOs
February 13, 2023
In early December 2022, 39 scientists and representatives of NGOs from Albania, Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Germany, Greece, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia and Switzerland joined efforts to prepare a shadow list and a map o
Biodiversity on the brink: What’s holding back financing for nature in the EU?
February 7, 2023
This report provides insights into a number of significant barriers at the national level to financing nature restoration and conservation measures, such as authorities’ lack of knowledge about what constitutes biodiversity, insufficient collaboration between actors and excessively restrictive funding criteria. It also includes recommendations for both the EU and national levels.
Nature gets less than 1% of unprecedented EU budget -report
December 16, 2022
EU Member States are obligated to spend at least 37% of the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF, totalling €750 billion) launched to …
The Modernisation Fund in central and eastern Europe
December 13, 2022
This briefing gives insights into the Modernisation Fund, a funding programme to support 10 lower-income EU Member States in their transition to climate neutrality by modernising their energy systems and improving energy efficiency.
Less haste, more speed: The European Parliament must support renewables *and* nature
December 12, 2022
This Wednesday, the European Parliament plenary will vote on changes to the Renewable Energy Directive. But the proposals seriously undermine environmental safeguards and set impossibly tight deadlines.
The Western Balkan power sector: between crisis and transition
December 5, 2022
As energy transition in the Western Balkans slowly proceeds, energy crisis has hit the region on four fronts: electricity prices, technical problems at coal plants, lack of water for hydropower, and skyrocketing biomass prices. This crisis is both a se
