European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD)

International commercial and public banks have been bankrolling a wave of hydropower projects across Southeast Europe that have damaged pristine rivers, including in protected areas. These financiers need to take their share of the responsibility and stop financing projects in sensitive areas.

Entrusted with leading Georgia towards energy independence, the Shuakhevi plant has achieved anything but. Long after its completion in June 2017, it is as far as it could be from fulfilling its promise for energy security. Instead, it managed to collect an impressive ‘portfolio’ of problems in a wide range of areas: from biodiversity, to gender impacts, to community relations.

The leading Ukrainian agribusiness giant has been enjoying generous support in public funds and national subsidies. With over half a billion euros from the EBRD, EIB and the IFC, Myronivsky Hliboproduct PJSC (MHP) has grown into a near monopolist in poultry production. While MHP’s vertically integrated model has contributed to its status as a leading Ukrainian agribusiness, the scale and nature of its business have also contributed to mounting concerns about its social and environmental impacts. These concerns are compounded by patterns of poor community consultation and a lack of information provided about MHP’s operations, leaving project-affected people guessing about the true impacts of its operations.

In its new draft strategy for the energy sector, meant to guide the bank’s lending between 2019-2023, the EBRD gives too much prominence to gas as a so-called “bridging fuel” on the way to decarbonisation – much more prominence than is given to energy savings and even to sustainable renewables.

The EIB and EBRD have been channelling billions of euros in public money to fossil fuels dependent companies, hampering the international community’s efforts to tackle climate change.

Prague, Belgrade –  The independent grievance body of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has started investigating a EUR 200 million ‘restructuring loan’ granted in 2015 to Elektroprivreda Srbije (EPS), the largest energy company in Serbia, following a complaint by CEE Bankwatch Network and Serbian environmental group CEKOR.