Ukrainian activists taken to court by longstanding EBRD client after sounding the alarm on impacts of planned wood processing factory
April 7, 2020
Activists from the environmental NGO Ecoclub from Rivne, Ukraine are facing defamation charges after they raised warnings about a planned wood processing facility near the city. The group alerted the public to a host of potential negative environmental impacts the facility might have, which has started construction in the village of Horodok, in the Rivne region, in Ukraine’s northwest.
ADB’s Clean Agenda: CSOs call against fueling dirty energy and coal investments
April 5, 2020
This year’s 52nd Asian Development Bank (ADB) Annual Governors’ Meeting is being held in Nadi, Fiji. Similar to its neighboring countries in the Pacific, Fiji is on the brink of suffering from the severe impacts of climate change despite its low global
Croatian hydropower plant highlights loopholes in EIB environmental policies
April 2, 2020
The EIB-financed Ilovac hydropower plant was built on the river Kupa in north-west Croatia at around the same time as scientists established the existence of a new fish species there – Alburnus sava. Since the dam’s construction, the species has not been found at the site. Has Alburnus sava’s habitat been degraded for just 1.4 MW of installed power?
Gone with the Flow, A case study of biodiversity loss caused by Ilovac Hydropower plant, Croatia
April 2, 2020
This case study aims to demonstrate that the EIB’s environmental and social (E&S) and transparency policies are insufficiently equipped to prevent the negative impacts of hydropower plants on sensitive ecosystems, in particular when the hydropower project (1) is financed via an intermediary bank and/or (2) is located outside of the EU.
Armenia breaks international agreement on biodiversity over gold mine funding, alleges complaint
March 30, 2020
Yerevan – The Armenian government has jeopardised three natural sites slated for protection for their unique biodiversity by moving ahead with plans for the USD 426 million Amulsar gold mine, finds a new complaint filed at the Convention on the Conservation of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats, known as the ‘Bern Convention.’
Déchets publics, profits privés
March 5, 2020
Depuis une cinquantaine d’années, une des plus grandes décharges à ciel ouvert d’Europe empoisonne les sols et l’air de la banlieue de Belgrade. En septembre 2019, Suez, géant français de la gestion des déchets et de l’eau, a conclu un très gros contra
Legal challenge mounted against subsidies for Belgrade waste incinerator
March 2, 2020
Serbia’s Ne Davimo Beograd movement has submitted two complaints to the Energy Community Secretariat, challenging government decisions for the Suez-Itochu consortium’s 340,000 tonnes-per-year municipal waste incinerator in Belgrade (1).
Just can’t get enough judgements: Croatian export bank still firmly riding the waves of opacity
January 30, 2020
The Croatian Bank for Reconstruction and Development (HBOR) has recently started another court case against the decision of Croatia’s Information Commissioner before the High Administrative Court. In the contested decision, the Commissioner ordered HBOR to disclose information about its export credit projects to the environmental organization Green Istria. This court case adds to no fewer than 31 appeals that HBOR started against similar decisions by the Commissioner between 2015-2019. It lost all of them.
Blue Heart of Europe – hydropower is destroying environment for hardly any energy
January 29, 2020
Rivers are the source of life and also the livelihoods of surrounding communities. Following an almost one-year standoff in nearby Fojnica in Bosnia and Herzegovina, residents of the Kruščica village decided in 2017 to defend the river of the same name
Serbia finally moves to halt unfair advantage for small hydropower plants
January 22, 2020
Serbia’s Ministry of Mining and Energy last week finally announced that its Regulation governing incentive measures for renewable energy and cogeneration is no longer in force.
