Letter: It’s time to stand firm and go Fossil Free
Publication | 7 October, 2019Bankwatch and over 70 other civil society groups have written to President of the European Investment Bank Werner Hoyer, members of the bank’s board of directors as well as the incoming President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, and its
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The EU’s flagship investment scheme must not become backdoor for fossil fuel financing
Blog entry | 7 October, 2019A half trillion euro subsidies scheme and part of the so-called Juncker Plan, the European Fund for Strategic Investment (EFSI) has been portrayed by its promoters, the European Commission and the European Investment Bank as a major success story, albeit with little evidence to back such claims.
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Setting precedent, EU bank to drop all fossil fuels funding beyond 2020
Press release | 26 July, 2019Prague, Brussels – The European Investment Bank, the house bank of the EU, is proposing to end financing for all fossil fuels beyond 2020, becoming the first multilateral financial institution to make such a commitment in line with the Paris Agreement.
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Submission on the European financial architecture for development
Publication | 23 July, 2019In the Submission to the High Level Group of Wise Persons on the European financial architecture for development, civil society organisations CEE Bankwatch Network, Concord, Counter Balance and Eurodad welcome the European Council’s initiative to revie
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Belgrade incinerator: Serbia to be a dumping ground for outdated technology?
Blog entry | 22 July, 2019The Serbian Ministry of Environment recently published the environmental assessment for the planned Vinča waste incinerator for public consultation. But the study shows no sign that the new plant would be in line with new EU pollution control standards approved in June.
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Ahead of Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank meeting in Luxembourg, over 89 000 petition bank to drop Nenskra dam project in Georgia
Press release | 12 July, 2019Luxembourg, Prague, Tbilisi – Representatives from the “Stop Nenskra” campaign [1] showed up in Luxembourg at the Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) annual meeting on July 12th and delivered a petition to the international development banks calling them on not to finance the Nenskra hydropower plant project [2] in Svaneti, Georgia.
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Racing against the clock: Kenyan villagers under imminent threat of eviction by project under EU’s bank’s appraisal
Blog entry | 19 June, 2019Today’s European Development Days forum in Brussels with its aspirational motto ‘building a world which leaves no one behind’ is an ironic backdrop to what is happening in the remote parts of Kenya, where a whole community is facing a threat of forced eviction by a project under appraisal of the EU’s own house bank. About a hundred people were demanded to abandon their homes by tomorrow – 20 June.
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New opportunities for eastern Europe if the EU’s bank ramps up climate ambition and quits fossil fuels
Blog entry | 13 June, 2019Ahead of the European Investment Bank’s annual governors’ meeting, several EU’s finance ministers put forward a joint non-paper “Climate for the future of Europe” with an idea to transform the EIB: make green financing its top priority and promote investments in energy and climate transition. The right initiative risks failing if not supported by the majority of the bank’s shareholders, in particular by the eastern states that wrongfully fear that EIB’s increasing ambition in climate finance will unfavorably impact the bank’s presence in their countries.
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In Georgia, leaked contract shows Nenskra hydropower project to cost country USD 60 million a year
Press release | 10 June, 2019For immediate release. Prague, Tbilisi – A leaked contract between the Georgian government and the company behind the Nenskra hydropower project includes terms that indicate the project will incur massive losses for the state, according to a report broadcast on 8 June by the national television station Rustavi 2 [1].
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Taking the chill off Romania’s residential buildings
Blog entry | 4 June, 2019Energy efficiency is taking centre stage in the Energy Union. Last summer, after long negotiations between the Parliament and the Council, a new energy efficiency target was set at 32.5 per cent by 2030. To meet the target, Romania is channelling public funds into renovating its residential sector which accounts for as much as 86 per cent of the country’s built environment.
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