Updates on the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development

Key concerns regarding the disclosure of project documentation and potential impacts of the Western High Speed Diameter road construction project

As presented to the EBRD by the Assessment Centre ECOM – St Petersburg Society of Naturalists (ECOM)

Letter to the UK Export Credit Guarantee Department providing an updated analysis and continued opposition to financing for Sakhalin II

Letter to President Lemierre following the NGO meeting during the 2007 EBRD Annual Meeting

Jean Lemierre President European Bank for Reconstruction and Development One Exchange Square London EC2A 2JN United Kingdom RE: Follow-up to NGO meeting at the 2007 EBRD AGM Dear President Lemierre, Once again this year NGOs and EBRD staff, directors and you yourself have had fruitful discussions at the annual meeting. Our interactions in Kazan featured a fair amount of sweat, but no blood or tears. For this we are grateful to all concerned and in particular to the EBRD NGO Relations team and the Environmental department.

Independent Recourse Mechanism: Three years on the questions remain and who is it for the EBRD or those affected by EBRD projects?

Four years since the approval of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development’s Independent Recourse Mechanism (IRM) policy, Bankwatch assesses how this compliance mechanism is functioning.

IFI Transparency and the Aarhus Convention

Members of the Global Transparency Initiative (GTI) prepared this paper to examine implementation of the Transparency Charter for International Financial Institutions from the perspective of the Aarhus Convention.

Western high speed diameter non-technical project summary

Position statement of Kazakh and Kyrgyz NGOs on a potential EBRD-financed road between Uzunagash and Balykchi

Karaganda EcoMuseum presentation on the Mittal Steel health and safety project

The Khudoni dam: a necessary solution to the Georgian energy crisis?

This report questions whether the solution for the troubled Georgian energy sector is the Khudoni Dam, a project which has already received World Bank grants for feasibility studies. The report also highlights the likely severe negative impacts of the dam construction on people in Georgia.

Bankwatch Mail 33

In this issue: Too much carbon in EU funding – Commission rubber stamps 30 percent rise in Polish GHGs * EIB approves Bujagali Dam in Uganda despite major flaws * Environmental and social safeguards – time to get serious at the EIB * Poland facing trial in European Court of Justice over Via Baltica * Dos and donts – how the EIB can avoid development pitfalls * When is corruption not corruption? Ask the EIB * The memory hole