Ukraine Nuclear Safety Upgrade Programme: loan conditions not met
Publication | 21 January, 2016The Ukrainian government continues to disregard the legal conditions attached to the financial support it receives from the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and Euratom for its nuclear safety upgrade program.
Read moreLynxed in: EBRD still can’t say no to destructive Macedonian dam
Publication | 17 December, 2015The latest blow to the highly controversial 68 megawatt Boškov Most hydropower plant, that has attracted EUR 65 million in financing from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), was dealt in early December by the Standing Committee of the Bern Convention, the European wildlife treaty.
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Nuclear plant shenanigans intensify in Ukraine
Publication | 17 December, 2015An ageing nuclear unit in the South Ukraine power plant has become the latest to have its expiry date rewritten by Ukrainian authorities, despite a number of pending safety issues and concerns over compliance with international treaties.
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Reckless dam financing rampant in the Balkans
Publication | 17 December, 2015A new Bankwatch report has found that loans totalling EUR 818 million from international public ‘development’ banks have supported 75 hydropower projects in the Balkans, including 30 which directly affect protected areas such as national parks, Natura 2000 sites and Ramsar sites.
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Greening the EBRD’s portfolio – or greenwashing it
Publication | 17 December, 2015No matter how you look at it, the so-called sustainable energy approach being taken – and loudly trumpeted – by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is simply at odds with both climate science and the recently adopted Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
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Public development banks failing 2 degree test, heavy fossil fuel financing persists
Publication | 17 December, 2015The MDB Climate Change Scorecard, published by Bank Information Center and Sierra Club during COP21, highlights how none of the world’s biggest multi-lateral development banks is on track to help keep the world below 2 degrees warming, and reveals how the seven banks in question – including the World Bank, the EIB and the EBRD – are continuing to support fossil fuel projects in developing countries.
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“Shaping the age of gas” – how the EU is locking in a destructive path
Publication | 17 December, 2015As efforts to realise a mega gas pipeline along the Southern Gas Corridor intensify, Re:Common’s Elena Gerebizza explains how democratic rights are at stake – and are being trampled on.
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EU-backed fossil fuels binge needs to end in ‘neighbourhood’ countries
Publication | 17 December, 2015Bankwatch has been taking a look at EU financing for the energy sector in 16 European Neighbourhood countries between 2007 and 2014. Alarmingly, our research has uncovered that out of at least EUR 9 billion provided by the EU to energy projects in the ENP region during the period under assessment, more than EUR 4.2 billion in financing went to hydrocarbons in contrast to the EUR 1.5 billion awarded to low carbon sources of energy and energy efficiency projects.
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Exporting toxic pollution from Europe to Namibia
Publication | 17 December, 2015The case of the Tsumeb smelter in Namibia demonstrates how European pollution is being exported to the Global South with the indirect help of public development money.
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Foul play: development banks condone top Ukrainian poultry producer’s abuses
Publication | 17 December, 2015A closer look at Europe’s recent investments in Ukraine’s agriculture sector shows that the failure to apply high transparency standards and social safeguards poses not only business risks but also undermines Ukraine’s democratisation process.
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