European bank challenged on human rights credentials
Press release | 21 June, 2021The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development has struggled to prevent the billions of euros it lends each year from supporting autocratic regimes, finds a new report from civil society groups released on the eve of the bank’s thirtieth annual shareholder meeting.
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New beginnings at 30: can the EBRD leave behind fossil gas to become a bank fit for our future?
Publication | 16 June, 2021This report analyses the EBRD’s energy-related operations across the first two years of the Bank’s new Energy Sector Strategy (ESS) (2019-2020). This initial period of the ESS’s implementation is also compared to the previous ESS implementation period
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Complaints on controversial motorway project in Bosnia and Herzegovina trigger EBRD inquiry as forced expropriations begin in South Mostar
Press release | 27 April, 2021Local residents south of Mostar fear they could be uprooted by a motorway project financed by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). With forced expropriations underway, the Bank’s accountability mechanism has now announced it will investigate these concerns.
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Left jobless after eviction from Vinca landfill, Roma begin negotiations with Belgrade after complaint to the EBRD
Blog entry | 22 April, 2021The EBRD’s accountability mechanism has launched a problem-solving initiative to negotiate issues of affordable housing, access to education and income generation for the Roma families that were evicted from the Vinča landfill. In the two years since the eviction, these issues were not addressed, so the EBRD’s mediators will facilitate a problem-solving process between this vulnerable group and the city of Belgrade.
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Half green and half-blind on democracy. As the EBRD turns 30 the vision of its founders is still far out of sight
Blog entry | 14 April, 2021The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) was created in 1991 at a unique moment in history: after the fall of the Berlin wall, the disintegration of the Soviet Union and the run-up for the Rio Earth Summit on Sustainable Development and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.
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Thirsty hydropower: misuse of drinking water pipelines has destroyed a river in Bulgaria
Blog entry | 30 March, 2021The Blagoevgradska Bistritsa hydropower cascade was planned to use only the drinking water of the town of Blagoevgrad. Eight years later, it has used more than double the water allowed, leaving the river ‘even without frogs’. Our latest report shows the need for more scrutiny of EIB and EBRD lending through intermediary banks.
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Blagoevgradska Bistritsa hydropower cascade (Bulgaria)
Publication | 30 March, 2021The Blagoevgradska Bistritsa hydropower cascade in Bulgaria consists of eight small hydropower plants installed on pipelines that supply the town of Blagoevgrad with drinking water. The plants were developed by the private company Blagoevgradska Bistri
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Indorama Agro workers are fighting to register the first independent trade union in Uzbekistan
Blog entry | 26 March, 2021International civil society urges the Uzbek government and development banks to support the registration of the trade union in a joint statement released today, as workers organising the union are met with threats.
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Joint Statement Regarding the Establishment of an Independent Trade Union in Uzbekistan
Publication | 26 March, 2021On March 19, 2021, over 200 employees of Indorama Agro in the Syrdarya region of Uzbekistan held a meeting to establish the independent trade union, “Xalq Birligi” (People’s Unity), the first of its kind in the country. This initiative was a response t
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Unrest in Armenia casts shadow on developments at controversial gold mine
Blog entry | 9 March, 2021As the unfolding political crisis engulfs the streets of Yerevan, recent developments at the Bern Convention and EBRD portent a rocky future for the Amulsar project.
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