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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War returnees won discrimination case over re-routing of the EBRD and EIB financed motorway
Blog entry | 20 January, 2022Municipal court decision concluded that the Federation of Bosnia and Hercegovina (FBiH) indirectly discriminated against war returnees in Mostar South by choosing a new route of the Corridor Vc motorway without public consultations.
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EU bank freezes funding for major Budapest Airport expansion over sweeping violations of environmental norms
Press release | 10 January, 2022The European Investment Bank (EIB) has suspended the disbursement of a EUR 200 million loan intended to facilitate a dramatic increase in passenger turnover at Hungary’s main international airport following an investigation by the Bank’s Complaints Mechanism that found that no analysis had been done to assess the air pollution, noise pollution and greenhouse gas emissions that the development would generate, in breach of the Bank’s own policy as well as EU environmental law.
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In Bulgaria, marking an air pollution tragedy with another one in the making
Blog entry | 13 December, 2021Bankwatch member group Za Zemiata illuminates Sofia’s thermal power plant to protest plans for the construction of a waste incineration facility that would poison the capital.
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