Updates on the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development

One of the great enablers: how the EBRD threatens the environment and human rights in Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan

In its recent report, ‘The great enablers: how investments by international financial institutions threaten the fragile Caspian Sea ecosystem’, Crude Accountability describes how investments in the Caspian Sea region by international financial institutions, including the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, are contributing to the intensification of extraction of and trade in the region’s oil and gas.

EBRD Public Information Policy review should look to EU and US transparency advances

This year’s flurry of reviews to EBRD sectoral, country and operational strategies has given civil society organisations plenty to think about and provide input on. However, in the case of at least one of the reviews, we already have a pretty good idea what we will say. Because we’ve said it before – several times.

EBRD Energy policy review – no more excuses, rhetoric or finessing

Energy is the watchword of the day, as we keep increasing the need for it, no matter the costs, apparently. Well, the costs do matter but they are distorted by subsidies old and new, for fossil fuels and for renewable energy sources, while the global business world is made to feel increasingly insecure by the price of carbon emissions.

Croatian coal power plant predicted to be a killer – new study

A new report by Greenpeace Croatia, using European Environment Agency methodology, shows that the planned new 500 MW unit at the Plomin coal power plant in Croatia will cause approximately 17 early deaths annually, along with around 3970 lost working days due to illness and EUR 124.8 million in external costs.

NEVER AGAIN – Sostanj lignite power plant financing slammed

Following confirmation at the beginning of March that the European Investment Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development are paying out half a billion euros in loans for a new unit at the Sostanj lignite power plant (TES 6) in Slovenia, 98 organisations sent an open letter to both banks calling on them to never commit to such misguided loans again.

A black future for the Black Sea and its people – is the rest of Europe funding Turkey’s huge coal power plans?

Amasra, situated on the south coast of the Black Sea, is an ancient city that these days bases its economy on tourism and fishing. It’s the beginning of April and the women’s market is welcoming the first tourists of the year with fresh cheese, home-made pasta and vegetables. On the wall in a nearby cafe hangs a large poster with the slogan: “Amasra does not need a power plant”.

Policy briefing: Revision of the EBRD’s Environmental and Social Policy

Policy briefing: Review of the EBRD’s Energy Policy

Information disclosure and public participation in decision-making: necessary changes for EBRD policies

EBRD policy must take a stance: will it limit the ways in which stakeholders interact with each other and with the environment by adopting technical and procedural solutions? Or will it aim to promote shifts in social relations, in line with its mandate to promote sustainability and democratisation in its countries of operation? In this briefing, Bankwatch recommends a number of improvements in the EBRD’s Environmental and Social Policy and its Public Information Policy to better reflect the needs of the public.

Bankwatch Mail 56

Published to coincide with the EBRD’s annual meeting 2013 being held in Istanbul, this issue examines a developing controversial project in the bank’s newest region: a refinery expansion project in Cairo. Other fossil fuel investments by the EBRD also feature in the newsletter – and as the bank goes into major ‘policy review’ mode, with revisions to its energy, environmental and social and public information policies in the pipeline for this year, we put forward the case for the EBRD to rise to the climate challenge with real action rather than words. As the bank’s newly signed Kosovo country strategy demonstrates, however, the bank isn’t on course yet.