200 million euro EBRD loan to Serbian energy giant EPS under investigation
Press release | 1 October, 2018Prague, 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.
Read moreEuropean development money helps sustain fossil fuels-based companies – report
Press release | 27 September, 2018Five of Europe’s biggest climate offenders continue to enjoy billions of euros in public funds, according to a Bankwatch report released today.
Read more5 benefits of engaging in a facilitated dialogue process: the case of Myronivsky Hliboproduct
Blog entry | 10 August, 2018When both parties come to the table ready to participate in a meaningful way, a dispute resolution can serve as a valuable opportunity for companies, as well as the communities impacted by its operations.
Read moreThe European Parliament resolution urges European financial institution to respect indigenous peoples rights
Blog entry | 9 August, 2018Celebrate the rights of those 5 per cent who hold 80 per cent of the planet’s biodiversity. Today is the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples.
Read moreDevastating floods are the latest warning sign about controversial Nenskra hydropower project
Blog entry | 31 July, 2018From the outside, this tragedy might seem like a natural disaster, a force majeure. But one cannot ignore the human factors at play.
Read morePipeline mired in controversy gets half a billion euros from European development bank
Press release | 4 July, 2018Brussels, London, Rome, Prague – Today the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has approved a loan of EUR 500 million for the multi-billion euro Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) [1], in spite of the project failing to conform to the bank’s own policies and the fervent local resistance following the 878-kilometre pipeline where it crosses land in Greece and Albania before arriving onshore in Italy.
Read moreHow the EBRD can seize the day in sustainable development
Blog entry | 28 June, 2018To truly invest in changing lives and preventing human rights violations, the EBRD must ensure that its independent accountability office can conduct rigorous investigations into allegations of abuse in financed projects – and hold itself accountable.
Read moreOver 120,000 petition development banks to Save the Blue Heart of Europe and drop destructive hydropower in the Balkans
Press release | 21 June, 2018London, Prague, Radolfzell, Vienna – Representatives from the Save the Blue Heart of Europe campaign to save Europe’s last remaining wild rivers [1] handed in a petition endorsed globally by more than 120,000 people, calling on international development banks to rein in financial support for hydropower projects in the Balkans.
Read moreThe loan that made sense until it didn’t
Blog entry | 11 May, 2018During the annual meetings of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the bank is the subject of a complaint for policy violations via a EUR 200 million loan to Serbia’s state-owned energy utility: money earmarked to prepare the fossil fuels-based company for the realities of adhering to stricter EU legislation will instead enable it to extract and burn even more fossil fuels.
Read moreGuest post: One beast with many heads – a hydropower hydra in the Balkans
Blog entry | 21 December, 2017A visit to six mountain rivers and nine small dams in Macedonia exposed similar problems with many of them.
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