Transforming development finance? Europe’s multilateral lenders fail on aid transparency
Blog entry | 4 June, 2015The recently published 2015 Aid Transparency Review concludes that the European Union is off track from meeting its aid transparency commitments. Europe’s two multilateral development banks are indicative of the altogether rather disappointing outcome.
Read moreReflections on biodiversity offsetting in Mongolia
Publication | 25 May, 2015A fact-finding mission in April 2015 to Mongolia identified serious concerns regarding the implementation of the new Mongolian Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) legislation – in particular the specific provision on biodiversity offsetting. Oyu Tolgoi (OT), the largest mining investment ever licensed in Mongolia, has been the first project to include a biodiversity offset action in its EIA and related biodiversity management plan.
Read moreInterviewing the EBRD about the Kumtor gold mine
Publication | 14 May, 2015This interview was conducted during the EBRD annual meeting and business forum, 14-15 May 2015 in Tbilisi. The interview was led by Ryskeldi Satke (RS) with Dr. Alistair Clark (AC), EBRD’s Managing Director Environment and Sustainability Department; Michaela Bergman (MB), EBRD’s Chief Counselor for Social Issues Environment and Sustainability Department; and Dr. Dariusz Prasek (DP), Director, Project Appraisal Environment Department.
Read moreBankwatch Mail 62
Publication | 14 May, 2015Коротко о публикации Материалы 62-го выпуска Bankwatch Mail были опубликованы сразу после ежегодной встречи Европейского банка реконструкции и развития в Тбилиси. Увеличение числа энергетических проектов с печальными последствиями для людей и планеты, − от подавления инакомыслящих в Азербайджане и уничтожения национального парка в Македонии до (частичного) успеха ядерной безопасности в Украине, – является основной темой данного выпуска.
Read moreBankwatch Mail 62
Publication | 14 May, 2015Published on the heels of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development’s annual meeting in Tbilisi, the red thread of Issue 62 of Bankwatch Mail is a slew of energy projects with grim implications for people and planet – from the crackdown on dissent in Azerbaijan to the destruction of a national park in Macedonia to a (partial) success for nuclear safety in Ukraine.
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Europe’s Caspian gas dreams – a nightmare come true for human rights in Azerbaijan
Blog entry | 14 May, 2015As investors and officials are promoting a gas pipeline project from the Caspian Sea to Italy, the systematic repression of human rights in Azerbaijan is hardly on the official agenda. The Aliyev regime’s weakly veiled attempts to muzzle dissent illustrate how even the most repressive governments are acceptable partners for Europe’s pet energy projects.
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Operations suspended at one Ukrainian nuclear unit, as wider safety doubts persist
Publication | 14 May, 2015Citing 33 safety issue failings, at the end of April Ukraine’s nuclear regulator took the decision to suspend operations at Unit 2 of the South Ukraine nuclear power plant by a May 12 deadline, the date marking the end of the plant’s design lifetime. Under the terms of the Ukrainian State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate Council’s decision, should the state-owned nuclear energy operator Energoatom wish to resume the unit’s operations beyond its design lifetime it will have to implement all necessary measures by May 2017.
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Repression and carbon lock-in required for security and sustainability?
Publication | 14 May, 2015With construction of the Trans-Anatolian gas pipeline (TANAP) in Turkey getting under way, the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) consortium awarding contracts for the construction of access infrastructure in Albania, and Russian pipeline plans lagging behind, the Southern Corridor for Azerbaijan’s gas exports to Europe is increasingly looking like a done deal. Or at least that is what the project promoters would have us believe.
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Some Arab CSO aspirations and concerns for the EBRD annual meeting
Publication | 14 May, 2015The economic model with which the EBRD operates often fails to understand and respond to the development challenges of Arab countries.
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Georgia’s hydropower revolution far from rosy for communities, the environment and the economy
Publication | 14 May, 2015For Shuakhevi as with other large dams recently built or planned in Georgia, it all adds up for western planners and financiers. The final bill for the Georgian population and environment, though, is still a long way from being finalised.
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