Bankwatch Mail 40
Publication | 14 May, 2009In this issue: Nabucco spells energy securitisation not security * Crisis puts the EBRD back in the same old business * EBRD complaint mechanism gets a personality * EBRD drawing more power lines in Ukraine’s unsustainable energy sands * An end to energy efficiency excuses in Ukraine * Flagship PPP road project to be built with state money * ArcelorMittal – Going nowhere slowly * Hopeless in Gazela * New Gazela documentary * More dirty energy development for Albania * Smoke on Georgian water privatisation * Faster, smarter but more destructive crisis money for CEE?
Read moreArcelorMittal continues to pollute and uproot peoples lives
Press release | 12 May, 2009ArcelorMittal needs to move beyond good intentions on environmental and social improvements and turn words into deeds. Despite its rhetoric on social responsibility, the company continues to destroy the environment, risk peoples lives and displace local communities, according to a new report launched today by the Global Action on ArcelorMittal coalition to coincide with the company’s annual shareholder meeting in Luxembourg.
Read moreComplaint to EIB regarding breaches of EU legislation in preparations for the D1 motorway
Publication | 4 May, 2009Bankwatch member group Friend of the Earth-CEPA outlines in the complaint letter the breaches of EU legislation it believes have taken place during the preparation of the Turany – Hubov section of the D1 motorway. Both the EIB and EBRD are requested to halt plans for financing the project until the noted issues have been resolved, and the European Commission is asked to reconsider its acceptance of the project.
Read moreBankwatch Mail 39
Publication | 1 April, 2009In this issue: Earth calling the IFIs – Take me to your added value * Countdown to Copenhagen finds the EU stuck in limbo * Wind frozen and trees cut in Latvian crisis measures * The penny starts to drop on PPPs * Oil, gas and the IFIs: Sketching some lines on the horizon * Landmark legal victory compels Ex-Im Bank and OPIC to get real on their fossil fuel lending * Transparency fever gripping the World Bank?
Read moreQuality review of the EIA for the Porto Romano thermal power plant
Publication | 20 March, 2009This independent quality review of the Environmental Impact Assessment study highlights more than 25 shortcomings in the assessment, including the studys failure to: consider alternative energy scenarios to coal power; analyse properly the carbon dioxide emissions; assess the socio-economic impacts of the project and provide for management and monitoring plans. Based on this quality review as well as the opposition from the local communities the Municipality of Durres declared itself officially against the project in April 2009.
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First tranche of EIB car “crisis” loans requires scrutiny, warn Bankwatch and Greenpeace
Press release | 12 March, 2009The European Investment Bank (EIB) has today extended EUR 3 billion in soft loans to eight European carmakers for the development and production of cleaner vehicles. CEE Bankwatch Network and Greenpeace call on the EIB to ensure that money goes to initiatives with a true impact on cutting carbon emissions from cars and not just to small-scale greenwash projects.
Read moreLetter to EBRD president regarding financing for several highway sections in Slovakia
Publication | 5 December, 2008Recently the Slovak parliament adopted Act 669/2007 which allows motorways to be built on private property that has not been bought or expropriated at the time of construction. This creates favorable conditions for private investors engaged in building highways under public-private partnership ( PPP ) schemes. The act directly violates the right to the peaceful enjoyment of possessions guaranteed by the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms and its protocols, which is the basic norm of the EU in the area of human rights.
Read moreBankwatch Mail 38
Publication | 1 December, 2008In this issue: A fossil free EIB requires political will * South east Europe’s leaders to cling to carbon during COP 14 * Counting down to Copenhagen – counting on public money to do more for climate-friendly investments * No more excuses for IFI heel-dragging on renewables in emerging markets * EBRD carbon factor: Readers decide * Many cooks stirring Albania’s carbon soup * Looking beyond nuke bickering in the Baltics * EU-Ukraine energy cooperation needs a rethink * World Bank is accomplishing mission impossible in CEE, says the Bank * PPP’s perils and pitfalls make it no panacea – new Bankw
Read moreNever mind the balance sheet – the dangers posed by public-private partnerships in central and eastern Europe
Publication | 27 November, 2008In recent years public-private partnerships (PPPs) have been heavily promoted in central and eastern Europe (CEE), often giving the impression that where infrastructure is concerned, PPPs are the only game in town. Yet behind the plethora of conferences, workshops and publications, few CEE countries have implemented more than two or three PPP projects, and even fewer truly successful projects.
Read moreAn approach to Barroso regarding taxpayers-backed loans for the car industry
Publication | 19 November, 2008This letter focuses on a loan proposal from the EIB for the car industry. The bank already funded companies that are producers of models with high fuel consumption while progress on improving fuel efficiency has ground to a halt. This projected loan is in no way relevant to the proposed European policy to set lower future levels of CO2 emissions. Also the loan itself is an extremely significant figure and equals 80 euros per EU citizen.
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