Story of an artists. Leaflet against EU support for the Sostanj lignite power plant in Slovenia
Publication | 19 October, 2011Upset by Slovenia’s plans to build a huge lignite power plant unit in Sostanj, Slovenian artist Marko Kumer-Murc and Slovene environmentalists from Focus brought their protest to Brussels. The leaflet tells Marko’s story and offers a quick round-up of Sostanj and other coal power plants that are supported by international financial institutions.
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Art installation at Berlaymont denounces banking on coal
Press release | 19 October, 2011Brussels – With an art installation that symbolizes EU citizens locked in a polluted environment, the Slovenian artist Marko Kumer Murč and Slovene environmentalists from Focus protest against European public and private banks pouring hundreds of millions of euros into a new lignite plant in their country, at Sostanj. Many Slovenians oppose this project and the Slovenian parliament has just refused to support a state guarantee for the banks’ loans. The action is supported by the international NGOs Banktrack and CEE Bankwatch Network, which are campaigning against the project.
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European Parliament makes a step towards putting the ‘E’ into EBRD
Blog entry | 19 October, 2011By requesting a number of changes at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the European Parliament has confirmed at least some of Bankwatch’s criticism of the bank’s mode of operation and (in a subtle way) also its overall approach.
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Did the glimmer of gold blind the EBRD?
Blog entry | 11 October, 2011The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development has become a stakeholder in a company that is involved in gold mining in a UNESCO World Heritage site in Russia. Not only does this violate its own Environmental and Social Policy, but it also tells me a lot about the bank’s assessment of partner companies.
Read moreLetter to EBRD: Don’t support gold exploration in UNESCO site in Russia
Publication | 5 October, 2011In August 2011, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) announced that it was acquiring a stake in GV Gold, one of Russia’s top gold producers, stressing the company’s willingness to meet the Bank’s environmental and social requirements. A GV Gold subsidiary, however, carries out prospecting and plans to mine gold on a territory that is located in its entirety in a UNESCO World Natural Heritage property.
Read moreManagers of EBRD-funded Kolubara mines in Serbia arrested for embezzlement
Press release | 4 October, 2011Belgrade -16 current and former members of the management of Serbian state-owned energy company Elektroprivreda Srbija (EPS) were arrested today and yesterday across the country over allegations of embezzlement of company funds. Some of these are people that the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has entrusted this summer with managing an 80 million Euros loan for the development of the Kolubara lignite fields near Belgrade.
Read moreComplaint to European Commission: Inadequate assessment of CCS readiness for Sostanj lignite power plant project
Publication | 3 October, 2011Download the complaint as pdf
Read moreThe EBRD and coal. Dirty business unnoticed.
Publication | 3 October, 2011Despite numerous international calls for the discontinuation of public support for fossil fuels in the face of climate change, the EBRD continues to finance the dirtiest among them, coal. What is more, the bank plans to expand its activities in this field. CEE Bankwatch Network urges the EBRD to phase out any support for coal industry making it more competitive and disadvantaging sustainable energy.
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Potocnik says green economy, European public banks say black coal
Blog entry | 3 October, 2011The European Union’s internal and external ambitions for green economies are being countered by the activities of European international financial institutions. EU Commissioner for the Environment Potocnik can see that also in his home country Slovenia.
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Bankwatch Mail 49
Publication | 21 September, 2011This edition focuses mostly on the European Investment Bank and EU funds related issues. Among the questions we discuss are: How is the EU budget, this 1 trillion euro process, shaping up, and will sustainability finally have a bigger role? and Will EIB investments in the Southern Mediterranean bring benefits to the people there or to Western companies?
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