Serbian energy sector needs overhaul
Blog entry | 10 September, 2014The news portal Deutsche Welle has visited the Kolubara lignite mine in Serbia and produced a short clip about the difficulties faced by the Serbian energy sector. Our Serbian colleague Nikola Perusic speaks in the video about the terrible landslide that happened in May 2013.
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Second fatal landslide in Georgian Dariali valley
Blog entry | 22 August, 2014While likely not the cause, the EBRD-financed Dariali hydropower plant is being constructed without proper assessment or mitigation of known geological risks. The construction must be halted to avoid further damage.
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Azerbaijan political prisoners list published with report’s authors on it
Press release | 19 August, 2014London — Human rights activists in Azerbaijan published yesterday a list of 98 people who are currently political prisoners in the country run by the authoritarian regime of Ilham Aliyev. Ironically, the list includes the names of two of its authors, prominent rights activists Rasul Jafarov and Leyla Yunus, who were arrested under false charges earlier this month while they were working on the report.
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The Euro-Caspian Mega Pipeline – another ‘Blair rich project’
Publication | 8 August, 2014The hiring of former British prime minister Tony Blair to advise a BP-led consortium pushing forward with plans to pump Caspian gas from Azerbaijan to Europe has bumped the ‘Euro-Caspian Mega Pipeline’ (ECMP) into western media coverage and lead to criticism of yet another unsavoury Blair consultancy.
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Sharing the shale experience
Blog entry | 29 July, 2014Shale gas has become a focal point of interest for central and eastern European governments, with oil corporations (not only) from the West ready to start drilling as soon as possible. But protests have sparked across the region from Zurawlow in Poland to Pungesti in Romania. We spoke with two anti-fracking activists working on the Neuquén province in Argentina where the struggles of local communities against conventional oil and gas exploration are now amplified by even more problems related to unconventional fuels.
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City of Zagreb still playing with fire
Blog entry | 18 July, 2014Seasoned Bankwatch-watchers may recall our successful four-year campaign to stop the EBRD from financing a waste incinerator just outside Zagreb. Between 2005 and 2008, we supported Zelena akcija/Friends of the Earth Croatia and local group UZOR to prevent the City of Zagreb from building a huge 385 000 tonnes per year waste incinerator in Resnik on the outskirts of Croatia’s capital.
Read moreBriefing: Turceni coal power plant rehabilitation
Publication | 12 July, 2014While it may seem to be an environmental project at a quick glance, there are a number of facts that question the justification of the Turceni unit 6 rehabilitation project. The Turceni unit 6 project isn’t just a rehabilitation of the power plant unit, it is part of a county-wide operation with ignored social and environmental impacts. The immediate question is whether this is it really a pollution reduction project.
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A Private Affair: Report shows how development finance institutions benefit the rich in Western countries
Blog entry | 11 July, 2014A new report shows how private western-based companies are benefiting from multilateral development banks’ support while governments and citizens in recipient countries are delegated to the sidelines.
Read moreEBRD in Serbia: Don’t use floods to prop up coal
Press release | 7 July, 2014The EBRD should stick to its newly approved Energy Strategy and reject any investments in the Serbian coal sector, argue a group of 7 international NGOs in a letter sent to the bank’s board of directors today. The groups were concerned with recent statements by the EBRD according to which the bank’s regional flood response in the Balkans could include “rehabilitation of (…) damaged power stations and transmission and distribution networks.”
Read moreLetter: EBRD flood response in Serbia should diversify away from lignite
Publication | 7 July, 2014This letter, co-signed by Serbian, regional and international NGOs and sent to the Board of Directors of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development ask whether in the aftermath of the recent floods in the western Balkans, the EBRD’s response will prop up Serbia’s coal sector or whether it will ensure that its post-flood assistance is used for much needed residential energy efficiency improvements and sustainable renewable energy.
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