Video: Spirited away – Mongolia’s mining boom and the people that development left behind
Blog entry | 27 January, 2012Earlier this week we published an overview of two Central Asian mining projects financed by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development – the Kumtor gold mine in Kyrgyzstan and the Ukhaa Khudag coal mine in Mongolia’s south Gobi desert, which is part of the much larger – in fact the world’s largest – coal deposit at Tavan Tolgoi.
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Rushing into gold can leave people behind, EBRD
Blog entry | 25 January, 2012A look at mining projects in Kyrgyzstan and Mongolia reveal a need to carefully revise the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development’s involvement in the exploitation of natural resources.
Read moreLetter to European Commission: Insufficient environmental assessment of Ukraine NPP Safety Upgrade Programme
Publication | 20 January, 2012The letter criticises the environmental assessment of the Nuclear power plants safety upgrade programme (SUP) in Ukraine. It concludes that the assessment insufficient and does not fully elaborate the objectives and consequences of the SUP.
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Tragedy or comedy, what is the Nabucco pipeline really?
Blog entry | 19 January, 2012The announcement of German energy giant RWE to reconsider its plans for the Nabucco pipeline is just the last in a series of confusingly conflicting signals regarding the fate of this gargantuan project.
Read moreComplaint to EBRD’s Public Complaint Mechanism: The Sostanj thermal power plant project
Publication | 17 January, 2012Bankwatch, Slovenian NGO Focus and Environmental Legal Service (CZ) ask the EBRD’s Project Complaint Mechanism to undertake a compliance review of whether the bank has complied with its Environmental and Social Policy 2008 in relation to two aspects of the Sostanj lignite thermal power plant: (a) Claims by the EBRD that the project in question is “CCS ready” and (b) the EBRD’s assessment of whether Slovenia can fulfil its obligations in meeting long-term EU climate goals if it undertakes the project.
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Deja vu for Vienna II – a sustainable recovery is needed for the CEE financial sector
Blog entry | 16 January, 2012As pressures mount on western European banks to shore up capital ratios and with 2012 economic growth forecasts for Europe falling close to zero, officials from the European Central Bank, the European Commission, and several international financial institutions (IFIs) are meeting today in Vienna with regulators from CEE countries to discuss a second round of financial support for a fragile CEE banking sector.
Read moreThe Ukrainian nuclear power plant safety upgrade project and the EBRD’s contribution to extending outdated Soviet reactors
Publication | 15 January, 2012The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and Euroatom plan to support the nuclear power plant safety upgrade project in Ukraine. The EU presents the project as a timely initiative to improve nuclear safety in the region. A closer inspection however shows that it in fact can increase nuclear risks, in that the project includes a significant number of measures necessary to extend the lifetime of the reactors.
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Prison netbook – Russia and the arrest of an environmental activist
Blog entry | 13 January, 2012Shortly after 80 000 people took to Moscow’s streets at the end of December to oppose the 4 December controversial parliamentary elections that resulted in United Russia retaining control of parliament, Bankwatch ally and Khimki forest defender Yaroslav Nikitenko was forced to spend ten days in jail over a fabricated administrative crime.
Read moreComplaint to EBRD’s Public Complaint Mechanism: Rivne-Kyiv High Voltage Line project
Publication | 10 January, 2012The loan agreement between Ukraine and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development for the Rivne-Kyiv High Voltage Line project (connected to the controversial “Second Backbone Corridor”) included significant parts of the project that were not assessed in the obligatory environmental and social impact assessment (ESIA) prior to project approval.
Read moreCroatian civil society groups ask new government to withdraw from Ombla hydro project
Press release | 16 December, 2011Croatian environmental groups today held a protest action outside of the Croatian parliament calling on the country’s new government not to go ahead with the controversial EBRD-financed EUR 150 million Ombla HPP project.
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