Low-carbon transition as it should be: three steps for the EBRD to have fewer headaches with hydropower projects
Publication | 10 May, 2018While it is positive that banks want to finance the much-needed transition away from coal towards renewable energy in the Balkans, it is crucial to ensure that the cure is not worse than the disease. Most of the projects planned in the Balkans are smal
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EPS restructuring loan
Publication | 10 May, 2018Despite 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 syst
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The EBRD strategy for Uzbekistan
Publication | 9 May, 2018Changes in the approach to governance put forward by the President Shavkat Mirziyoyev deserve to be encouraged by the international community. It is natural that the EBRD is ready to provide support to a country willing to accelerate reforms. However,
Read moreComments on the EBRD safeguard policies
Publication | 11 April, 2018Relying on its experience in monitoring EBRD projects in recent years, Bankwatch re-assessed the EBRD Public Information Policy (PIP) and Environmental and Social Policy (ESP). EBRD Public Information Policy (PIP) 2014 General comments Specific comment
Read moreComments on the existing EBRD Energy Sector Strategy from 2013
Publication | 27 February, 2018Bankwatch reviewed the EBRD’s energy lending during the strategy period and used this lens to look at the text of the bank’s 2013 Energy Strategy: what needs to be continued and strengthened and what needs to be changed. The focus is on priority issues
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Smoke and mirrors: why the climate promises of the Southern Gas Corridor don’t add up
Publication | 30 January, 2018The aim of this study is to quantify the fugitive emissions produced along the fossil gas supply chain of the Southern Gas Corridor, focusing on extraction and transmission operations.
Read moreComments on the Nenskra supplementary environmental and social studies
Publication | 15 January, 2018The revised supplementary studies for the Nenskra project fail to properly perform a cost/benefit analysis. It lacks an assessment of the energy efficiency alternatives , the environmental externalities , the opportunity costs and even an economic inte
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Guest 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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European-financed small hydropower plants damaging pristine Balkan landscapes – study
Press release | 20 December, 2017Eight hydropower projects in Albania, Croatia and Macedonia financed with European public money have damaged biodiversity and are in urgent need of increased monitoring and restoration measures.
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Broken rivers. The impacts of European-financed small hydropower plants on pristine Balkan landscapes
Publication | 19 December, 2017Eight hydropower projects in Albania, Croatia and Macedonia financed with European public money have damaged biodiversity and are in urgent need of increased monitoring and restoration measures.
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