EU bank hands out billions to companies complicit in burning fossil fuels
Press release | 14 June, 2022The European Investment Bank (EIB) has pumped billions of euros into polluting fossil fuel companies over the past two years despite talking up its climate credentials, new research by Counter Balance and CEE Bankwatch Network reveals.
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Shaping the future of EIB Global
Publication | 3 June, 2022In 2022, the EIB created a new development branch called EIB Global. The creation of this new branch raises many issues and questions that are explored in this paper.
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Pouring millions from empty into the void
Blog entry | 30 May, 2022EBRD and EIB investments in Bulgarian hydropower have once again been hit by scandal with the recent failure of the Chaira pumped storage plant and revelations about the illegality of small hydropower plants. The planned Yadenitsa dam would be more of the same: will the EBRD and EIB be wise enough to say no?
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Sustainable heating is already reality in the EU. Now it’s the Western Balkans’ turn
Blog entry | 16 May, 2022In the Western Balkans, heating based on fossil fuels is making air pollution worse and is also the source of half of greenhouse gas emissions. Sustainable and affordable heating systems based on renewables are no fantasy. They operate successfully in other parts of Europe, and can be implemented in the Western Balkans if decision makers start acting now.
Read moreHow can the EIB and the EU financial mechanisms support the decarbonisation of district heating?: Exemplary cases in central and eastern Europe
Publication | 27 April, 2022The heating and cooling sector accounts for half of the EU’s energy consumption, and both district heating and individual heating are still dominated by fossil fuels and inefficiently burned biomass. According to Eurostat data, only 22 per cent of heating and cooling is generated from renewable energy. Decarbonisation of this sector, through increasing its efficiency and use of renewable energy sources, is key to the success of the EU’s climate neutrality strategy.
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EU Ombudsman reprimands EIB for lack of transparency on funding’s environmental impacts
Press release | 25 April, 2022In an encouraging move for democracy and the planet, the EU watchdog has taken a stance against the European Investment Bank (EIB) for refusing to disclose information about the environmental impacts of projects it finances.
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EU bank’s new environmental and social policy not fit for lofty development ambitions
Press release | 2 February, 2022The European Investment Bank (EIB) – the financial arm of the EU – has approved a set of new environmental and social standards that, despite some last-minute changes, leave the door open to human rights abuses and biodiversity destruction, warn civil society groups.
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The EIB’s safeguard rules must match its global ambitions
Blog entry | 1 February, 2022The EU’s house bank has great development aspirations, but its draft environmental and social policy has dangerous gaps that will come back to haunt it.
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EU bank chief ‘ready to close gaps’ on rights abuses and environmental damage
Press release | 27 January, 2022At today’s annual press conference of the European Investment Bank, president Werner Hoyer committed his institution to be ‘second to none’ and take steps to correct a poor record of human rights violations and environmental damage caused by the world’s largest international lender.
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New complaint on hidden EIB hydropower financing in Serbia shows need for tighter standards
Blog entry | 27 January, 2022As the EIB prepares to adopt a new environmental and social policy next week, an NGO complaint to the Bank’s Complaint Mechanism shows why the Bank’s standards for financial intermediaries urgently need to be tightened.
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