Towards better safeguards policies
Empowering communities to be heard. Protecting whistleblowers and pushing back against the threat of violence, intimidation and attacks on free speech and assembly. Preserving the environment.
Photo by bliink (CC BY-NC 2.0)
Strong safeguard policies to guide bank lending are essential.
At the EBRD meetings this week in Jordan, we are pushing for these types of reforms based on our collected experience with bank projects across the region.
LATEST UPDATES
Corporate loans – the rotten apple in EBRD’s Environmental and Social Policy?
Blog entry | 18 April, 2019As the Board of Directors is expected to vote any day now on the renewed Policy which lays out the conditions for reaching the Bank’s sustainability mandate and commitment to EU standards, a compliance review on Serbia’s energy company’s corporate restructuring loan calls for clearer and stronger safeguards for corporate level loans.
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New report highlights misuse of banking secrecy rules
Blog entry | 26 March, 2019BankTrack’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?
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Milestone bank summit in Belgrade a step towards protecting Balkan rivers, but greater transparency still needed
Press release | 1 March, 2019For immediate release. Belgrade – The ‘Save the Blue Heart of Europe’ campaign [1] gave a cautious welcome to a first-of-its-kind summit between the financial sector and green activists, where a roundtable about the role of banks in the destruction of Balkan rivers by hydropower dams was centre stage.
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EPS, Serbia
Despite its commitments to increase the share of renewables under the Energy Community and reduce greenhouse gas emissions within the process of EU accession, the Serbian government seems determined to remain locked-in to a carbon intensive energy system, with several coal projects planned. The EBRD should stick to its Energy Strategy and reject any investments in the Serbian coal sector.
Nenskra project, Georgia
The banks have a responsibility to ensure that when they make an investment, they mitigate and avoid situations that put persons at risk. The Nenskra dam in Georgia is one example where the lack of proper environmental and social assessment can potentially unfold into a crisis. The reservoir will flood communal lands and would reduce families incomes, contributing to poverty and marginalisation.
Small hydropower, the Balkans
The use of third-party financial intermediaries by the public banks presents a huge barrier to transparency, with next to no information available about their clients’ operations. This has proven especially problematic in the hydropower sector, where financial intermediaries have funded projects that violate national legislation, decimate pristine areas and dry out riverbeds.
Coal-heavy utilities
The economic viability of coal is ever decreasing. Without public financial support many coal investments are doomed to fail. Yet several institutions are still willing to finance an energy source that wrecks our climate, damages our health and wastes our money. In 2013 the EBRD made a very welcome decision to limit its coal financing to rare and exceptional circumstances, but further improvements are needed.
New Kosovo power plant
After years of delay, the New Kosovo lignite power plant took a step forward in 2017 with the signing of commercial contracts. However, numerous old issues, including carbon emissions, resettlement, and the dubious single-bidder procurement process, have not been resolved, and coal power alternatives have not been properly examined.
EBRD strategy for Uzbekistan
It is important that the EBRD clearly indicates to the Uzbekistan government the need to have progress towards meeting those benchmarks from over 15 years ago that remain relevant to this day. We suggest that the Country Strategy will envisage an early review to assess the progress in these areas.
Myronivsky Hliboproduct (MHP), Ukraine
With over half a billion euros from the EBRD and the IFC, the leading Ukrainian agribusiness giant has grown into a near monopolist in poultry production. The company’s poor track record of stakeholder engagement and accountability towards impacted villages attracted public criticism and opposition to its expansion.
Belgrade waste PPP
The Vinča waste PPP contract between the City of Belgrade and the Suez-Itochu consortium raises numerous issues including the terms of the contract, the waste management model envisaged, and the impacts on the Roma population living on the landfill, as well as those surviving in the city through informal waste collection.
Too often #EBRD safeguard policies fail to deliver protection for people, climate and the environment. What can be done? #EBRDam https://t.co/7iIfN41gbO pic.twitter.com/27sKXBSndo
— Bankwatch (@ceebankwatch) May 8, 2018
What we want from the revised #EBRD policies:
— Bankwatch (@ceebankwatch) May 9, 2018
- Empowered communities
- Right to free speech and assembly
- Protected environmenthttps://t.co/7iIfN41gbO #EBRDam pic.twitter.com/oIULcALdbK
#Georgia's Caucasus mountains are a natural and cultural treasure - surely the development banks @EBRD and @ADB_HQ would think twice before flooding this area with funding for the billion dollar #Nenskra dam project? cc @intlrivers @AgFilipiak @RFERL @robinfwalker pic.twitter.com/123dLkgavC
— Bankwatch (@ceebankwatch) May 3, 2018
