Europe’s false solutions for Ukraine’s energy woes
Blog entry | 9 March, 2016Current EU support is not just a distraction from the energy path Ukraine needs to take, it also puts countless communities in Ukraine and abroad at risk.
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Guest post: Walking the line
Blog entry | 8 March, 2016Plans for the Southern Gas Corridor / Euro-Caspian Mega Pipeline will solidify the west’s dependence on fossil fuels and authoritarian regimes. A new web documentary shows why we should stop and think.
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Do not fund Southern Gas Corridor with EU money
Blog entry | 1 March, 2016The flashbulbs at Azerbaijan’s official photo opportunities should not blind Europe’s leaders to the country’s accelerated descent into authoritarianism, writes Xavier Sol.
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Water disputes persist as Rio Tinto pushes ahead with second Oyu Tolgoi mine
Press release | 11 February, 2016Prague; Khanbogd Soum, Mongolia – A large new copper mine in Mongolia could cause irreversible damage to terrain and deprive water from some of the world’s last remaining nomadic herding groups, finds a new report released today by Oyu Tolgoi Watch, the Bank Information Center, CEE Bankwatch Network and Accountability Counsel.
Read moreOyu Tolgoi Phase 2: Plans, Issues and Risks
Publication | 11 February, 2016This report summarises the mining activity proposed by Oyu Tolgoi in its Phase 2 development plan, describes the block caving underground mining technology planned for the large deep ore body to be mined in Phase 2, environmental impacts and reclamation potential of block cave mines, and issues and risks associated with future OT power supply, international metal market price uncertainties, and OT Phase 1 and 2 impacts on water resources and herders and their livelihood in the region surrounding the OT mine license area.
Read moreNenskra hydropower plant, Georgia
Publication | 2 February, 2016For the last decade, the government of Georgia has promoted hydropower as a way of tackling energy security and turning the country into a regional energy player. The EBRD has been one of the key catalysts of this hydro boom. Yet the presence of the EBRD and other international financial institutions has not been enough to ensure the development of comprehensive energy strategies, robust project assessments and meaningful public consultations. The potential for social and environmental problems is therefore prevalent. The Nenskra hydropower plant is yet another project that lacks the proper assessment and has failed to gain acceptance from the local communities.
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Issues with Serbian electricity company EPS need to be addressed within new EBRD loan
Publication | 1 February, 2016As part of its new EUR 200 million loan to the Serbian electricity company EPS, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development aims to assist with “identifying opportunities to improve environmental, safety, social, and labour governance and capacity, and on helping EPS to develop a more strategic approach to managing these issues”. As outlined in this briefing, so far the EBRD’s fifteen-year partnership with EPS has not brought visible improvements in company practices and it is high time for the bank to prove that its engagement can add value.
Read moreProblematic expansion of agribusiness giant MHP in Ukraine with EBRD support
Publication | 1 February, 2016Myronivsky Hliboproduct PJSC, also known as MHP, is a long-term client of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. Following loands in 2013 and 2010, the EBRD approved a USD 85 million loan on 28 October 2015 to support MHP’s agricultural working capital needs. While the agricultural sector is widely viewed as one of the engines of the Ukrainian economy, MHP’s operations are having a range of negative impacts on local communities.
Read moreReport finds development banks fail people harmed by their projects
Press release | 27 January, 2016A new report launched today documents the hurdles communities and workers face in obtaining remedy from development banks whose projects cause them harm. The 11 civil society organizations that authored the report, Glass Half Full? The State of Accountability in Development Finance, call on development banks and the governments that run them to strengthen their systems for providing remedy to those harmed by the activities financed by the banks.
Read moreGlass Half Full? The state of accountability in development finance
Publication | 27 January, 2016Real development respects human rights and is shaped by the people it is designed to benefit. However, development projects financed by development finance institutions in many cases has been associated with the dispossession of land, loss of resources, diminished livelihoods and environmental degradation. Accountability mechanisms in theory aim to ensure that people who have been harmed by these projects receive adequate remedy. As this report shows, however, these accountability mechanisms to a large extent fail to fulfil this function, not least because they operate in a constrained environment constructed by the institutions that administer them.
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