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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Never mind the protected areas!
Blog entry | 23 November, 2021Hidden behind a financial intermediary, the EIB has supported the destruction of the Mojanska River in Montenegro. Yet local inspectors claim nothing is wrong. Will the EIB now take corrective action?
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Major setback on transparency at the EIB
Press release | 18 November, 2021Yesterday, the European Investment Bank (EIB) – the financial arm of the EU – approved a new Transparency Policy that will allow the bank to keep hiding information on projects it finances despite their potential impacts on people and the environment.
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The EIB cannot become a ‘climate leader’ while failing on transparency
Press release | 10 November, 2021The European Investment Bank (EIB) – the financial arm of the EU – is about to approve a new Transparency Policy that will allow the bank to keep hiding information on projects it considers to finance despite their potential impacts on people and the environment.
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New report: European Investment Bank hydropower failures necessitate tighter rules
Press release | 21 October, 2021The European Investment Bank has financed a series of damaging hydropower projects since 2010 which underline the need to tighten its environmental and social standards, according to a new report published today by CEE Bankwatch Network and EuroNatur.
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