Connie Hedegaard: Stop paying the polluters
Publication | 10 May, 2013“When the winds of change blow,” says an old Chinese proverb, “some build walls, and others build wind mills.”
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When in hole, stop digging: lessons from the Ombla hydro project in Croatia
Publication | 10 May, 2013At the time of writing, it is highly uncertain what the future holds for the controversial 68 MW Ombla underground hydropower plant. Approved for financing by the EBRD back in 2011, only recently has a nature impact assessment study finally been published, and no final opinions have been given by either state institutions or the EBRD on whether the project is to go ahead.
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Armenia gold mining problems cast shadow over renewed EBRD financing
Publication | 10 May, 2013The attention of the environmental community in Armenia has recently been focused on events swirling around the Deno Gold Mining Company (DGMC). The company has been contending with rising tensions in Kapan as a result of its laying off of workers at its gold mining operations coupled with failings at its Geghanush tailings facility. The controversies have arisen just as the company awaits disbursement of a new loan from the EBRD.
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More questions than answers – the EBRD’s new country strategy for Russia
Publication | 10 May, 2013The new EBRD country strategy for Russia that will apply for 2013-2015 attracted input and comments from several human rights and environmental watchdogs, among them Human Rights Watch, WWF, Greenpeace and Bankwatch. As part of the consultation on the new strategy, NGOs expressed concerns about the current political and social situation in Russia as well as the dangers of natural resource development. The comments were incorporated into the strategy document but it remains unclear if NGOs were able to influence actual decision-making.
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Dire straits – EBRD backing for oil transportation in the Kerch Strait appears belatedly on public radar
Publication | 10 May, 2013A European Bank for Reconstruction and Development loan to the SVL group, granted with no public oversight, threatens new oil-related catastrophes.
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One of the great enablers: how the EBRD threatens the environment and human rights in Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan
Publication | 10 May, 2013In 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.
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EBRD Public Information Policy review should look to EU and US transparency advances
Publication | 10 May, 2013This 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.
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EBRD Energy policy review – no more excuses, rhetoric or finessing
Publication | 10 May, 2013Energy 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.
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Croatian coal power plant predicted to be a killer – new study
Publication | 10 May, 2013A 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.
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NEVER AGAIN – Sostanj lignite power plant financing slammed
Publication | 10 May, 2013Following 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.
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