Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde: An Energy Union torn between clean energy and fossil fuels
Press release | 24 February, 2015Brussels – The vision of Energy Union to be outlined by the European Commission tomorrow proposes making Europe a world leader in renewables and energy efficiency, but at the same time envisages significant investments undermining that goal, such as gas import infrastructure, nuclear and dirty unconventional fossil fuels.
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EU priority gas pipeline faces fierce opposition in Italy
Blog entry | 17 February, 2015The European Investment Bank recently confirmed plans to finance the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline from Greece via Albania to Italy. Yet a coalition of local mayors will do whatever it takes to stop the project.
Read moreEuropean Fund for Strategic Investments: focus on low carbon, clean energy and resource efficiency investments
Publication | 16 February, 2015The European Commission President Juncker’s ‘Investment plan for growth and jobs’ is aiming at mobilising EUR 315 billion of additional investments by 2018. A proposed regulation setting up the framework of the EFSI is currently negotiated in the European Parliament and the Council and its adoption is envisaged for June 2015. This briefing, prepared by Bankwatch, Counter Balance, Friends of the Earth Europe and WWF Europe stresses that this regulation should give clarity on how the fund will contribute to the achievement of EU long-term objectives, its added-value for the EU and the expected benefits for European citizens: all projects benefiting from the fund should explicitly accelerate the transition of Europe’s economies, infrastructure investments should aim at the decarbonisation, decentralization and decrease of energy and transport systems, R&D focusing on the absolute decoupling of resource use and production.
Read moreEIB Climate Action undermined by bank’s fossil fuel lending
Press release | 11 February, 2015Brussels — Ahead of a public consultation on the European Investment Bank’s Climate Action Programme tomorrow in Brussels, Bankwatch insists that, if the bank’s pro-climate efforts are to be effective, the EIB must give up its loans to fossil fuels and other climate-damaging sectors.
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Natural gas left, right and centre at Energy Union conference in Riga
Blog entry | 11 February, 2015Massive infrastructure for transporting natural gas is shaping up to be a centre piece of the Energy Union put forward by the Juncker Commission. This was also the impression Bankwatch campaigners had at an Energy Union conference in Riga last week.
Read moreLong awaited investigation into Glencore for alleged tax dodging shows EU Bank’s lack of transparency and vulnerability to abuse
Press release | 5 February, 2015Brussels – The European Investment Bank (EIB) is virtually powerless in the face of abuse of its own funds, an internal investigation published last week by the EIB shows. What’s even worse is that the EIB’s new transparency policy – to be adopted in the coming weeks – would formally allow the bank to keep such internal investigations into abuses of its funds secret, hereby undermining public scrutiny of public money.
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European Investment Bank confirms plans to finance Trans-Adriatic Pipeline
Blog entry | 4 February, 2015On February 2, during the annual meeting between civil society and the European Investment Bank’s (EIB) Board of Directors, the EIB revealed that the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) was among its priority projects for 2015 in the Balkans.[*] The Trans-Adriatic Pipeline, planned to stretch from Greece via Albania and the Adriatic Sea to Italy, is part of the Southern Gas Corridor, a chain of projects meant to bring natural gas to Europe from the Shah Deniz offshore gas field in Azerbaijan.
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Civil society aiming to clamp down on EIB tax haven evasiveness
Publication | 2 February, 2015Pressure is mounting on the European Investment Bank to take swift action that addresses weaknesses in its policy on lending to businesses based in tax havens.
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Eight things to give the EIB’s forthcoming climate policy meaning, purpose and ambition
Publication | 2 February, 2015The European Investment Bank, as the EU’s lending arm, needs a lending policy on climate protection which properly reflects the EU’s climate policies and legislation.
Read moreKey civil society messages on the EIB climate policy
Publication | 2 February, 2015This briefing was presented to the directors of the European Investment Bank during a meeting with civil society organisations.
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