Guest post: Italian mayors protest against the Trans Adriatic Pipeline
Blog entry | 22 September, 2015Local opposition in Italy to the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) is mounting. During a business event organised last week, a dozen mayors staged a protest against the government’s support for the project, who together with civil society and local authorities fear that the pipeline will destroy the environment and the safety of their communities. Instead they are demanding that EU drop the project.
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Bankwatch and Counter Balance statement on the adoption of the European Investment Bank Climate Strategy
Press release | 22 September, 2015“As Europe prepares to host the seminal UN climate summit in Paris at year’s end, the EU’s house bank is turning away from its commitment to finance the bloc’s climate action.
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Slovenia and the Energy Union: clash in priorities, renewables as collateral damage
Blog entry | 17 September, 2015A leaked document, published here for the first time, that outlines the Slovenian government’s priorities for the EU’s Energy Union reveals a potential conflict with what the European Commission has on offer. Yet, neither promises ambitious strides towards more renewables.
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Images and graphs: Large-scale agribusiness in Ukraine and local communities
Blog entry | 14 September, 2015Ukraine’s agriculture was the only sector in the country to grow in 2014. International investors are happy to point this out – and the role they are playing in financing these investments. Our investigation, however, shows that cheap Ukrainian food products are coming at the expense of severe impacts on local communities.
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Rural communities in Ukraine bearing the brunt of unchecked agribusiness expansion, say two new reports
Press release | 14 September, 2015Residents in Ukraine’s southwest are facing environmental decline, intimidation and deteriorating quality of life as a result of the rapid emergence of Europe’s largest poultry farm, finds a report released today by CEE Bankwatch Network. Owned by Mironivski Hliboproduct (MHP), Ukraine’s biggest poultry producer, the Vinnytsia project has been enjoying hefty support from Europe’s public financial institutes and the World Bank, and plans to double the facility’s size are only likely to exacerbate its social and environmental impacts, shows another report released today by the Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations (SOMO).
Read moreBlack earth – Agribusiness in Ukraine and the marginalisation of rural communities
Publication | 14 September, 2015Given Ukraine’s abundant land resources and food production potential, modernisation of agriculture is necessary and industrialisation is inevitable. Yet, an investigation into the Vinnytsia poultry complex shows the negative side effects of large-scale industrialisation of meat production and sounds the alarm about the risks that agroholdings pose to communities.
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Slovakia and the Energy Union: Financing for fossil fuels
Blog entry | 10 September, 2015Similar to what we have seen in other countries, when it comes to concrete projects in Slovakia the Energy Union proposals are so far to a much larger extent aiming at security of (gas) supply than they are at decarbonisation.
Read moreLetter: Substantial amendments needed for EIB climate strategy
Publication | 8 September, 2015The European Investment Bank’s draft Climate Strategy, although it presents a few interesting technical opportunities, does not constitute a fully-fledged strategy: it lacks strong and measurable objectives, relevant action plans and clear implementation timelines to support those objectives. Bankwatch, urgewald, Counter Balance and WWF Europe therefore ask the EIB to make substantial amendments to the draft in the following three areas: energy efficiency, the cimate action target and the emissions performance standard.
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To mobilise investments for energy efficiency, Commission needs to put money where its mouth is
Blog entry | 26 August, 2015Clear guidance is needed more than public assurances to make the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI) be indeed a vehicle for energy efficiency. Counter to public statements, the current set-up does not promise to be effective.
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Energy Union benefits are full of paradoxes in the land of Kafka
Blog entry | 30 July, 2015More clarity is needed regarding the Energy Union’s priorities for the Czech Republic.
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