Voices of support for Ukraine echo in Morocco: takeaways from the EBRD Annual Meeting in Marrakesh
Blog entry | 8 June, 2022The 2022 EBRD Annual Meeting was held in the city of Marrakesh, Morocco. Although taking place far away geographically, the topic of Ukraine dominated the agenda. Will the EBRD ensure its funds for the country’s reconstruction are used in the most efficient, green and inclusive way?
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Pouring millions from empty into the void
Blog entry | 30 May, 2022EBRD and EIB investments in Bulgarian hydropower have once again been hit by scandal with the recent failure of the Chaira pumped storage plant and revelations about the illegality of small hydropower plants. The planned Yadenitsa dam would be more of the same: will the EBRD and EIB be wise enough to say no?
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Sustainable heating is already reality in the EU. Now it’s the Western Balkans’ turn
Blog entry | 16 May, 2022In the Western Balkans, heating based on fossil fuels is making air pollution worse and is also the source of half of greenhouse gas emissions. Sustainable and affordable heating systems based on renewables are no fantasy. They operate successfully in other parts of Europe, and can be implemented in the Western Balkans if decision makers start acting now.
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Is there room for informal waste pickers in Serbia’s new waste management system?
Blog entry | 10 March, 2022As Serbia modernises its waste collection, the people who keep the country’s cities clean and green should not be left behind.
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Balancing gender opportunities and risks: Gender impacts of the EBRD’s investments in Uzbekistan
Publication | 2 March, 2022This report analyses the gender impact of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development’s (EBRD) portfolio in Uzbekistan.
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Update to the Bern Convention on the Complaint No. 2016/09 – Possible threat by hydropower to “Svaneti 1” Candidate Emerald Site
Publication | 22 February, 2022The Svaneti 1 Candidate Emerald site in Georgia is threatened by the decision of the Georgian government to reduce its size for construction of the 280 MW Nenskra Hydro Power Plant (HPP) project. This is an update by the complainants on the Complaint No. 2016/9 – Possible threat to “Svaneti 1” Candidate Emerald Site who request an on-the-spot appraisal mission by the Bern Convention to Georgia, in order to investigate the threats to rivers that were recorded by Bankwatch during its fact-finding mission in July 2021.
Read moreOpen letter to the EBRD and JP Autoceste about the legality of the project-level Spatial Plan of 2017 for the Corridor Vc in the Hercegovina-Neretva Canton
Publication | 21 February, 2022The letter requests that the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development not sign the loan agreement for the Corridor Vc motorway subsections Mostar North – Mostar South until additional biodiversity baseline studies for the subsection tunnel Kvanj – Buna and alternative route assessments are completed. The letter also presents the conclusions of the discrimination complaint filed by war returnees, as well as the ramifications for the Bank’s rules on vulnerable groups. It asserts that signing the loan for the subsection Mostar North and South should be delayed until additional biodiversity studies and careful consideration of route alternatives are completed, particularly since the Bank’s independent accountability mechanism is about to finalize its recommendations to management in the first half of 2022.
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Towards a people-powered, green transformation in Almaty
Blog entry | 16 February, 2022The EBRD must move away from its carbon tunnel vision and widen its perspective on all impacts of climate investments in cities
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No resolution for Ukrainian villagers after three years of negotiations with agro-giant MHP
Blog entry | 7 February, 2022‘Peaceful negotiations’ between village residents in Vinnytska oblast and Myronivskyi Hliboprodukt (MHP), the largest agribusiness company in Ukraine, have ended abruptly, leaving all issues related to the company’s impacts on local communities unresolved.
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War returnees won discrimination case over re-routing of the EBRD and EIB financed motorway
Blog entry | 20 January, 2022Municipal court decision concluded that the Federation of Bosnia and Hercegovina (FBiH) indirectly discriminated against war returnees in Mostar South by choosing a new route of the Corridor Vc motorway without public consultations.
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