‘EU climate bank’ keeps back door open for fossil fuel giants
Blog entry | 2 May, 2023The European Investment Bank (EIB) made history with its decision to stop financing fossil fuel energy from 2022 onwards. By adopting the PATH Framework in October 2021, it seemed the EIB had finally set the conditions requiring its clients to disclose information on their corporate-level emissions, as well as decarbonisation plans. But a year later, it made a U-turn.
Read moreEU’s house bank breached environmental standards on Serbia hydropower project
Press release | 14 April, 2023The European Investment Bank (EIB) breached its environmental standards during the approval of the Komalj small hydropower plant in Serbia, the Bank’s Complaint Mechanism has concluded, in a report published today. (1)
Read moreEBRD investments in Ukrainian agro-giant MHP under investigation
Blog entry | 2 February, 2023After years of community complaints about the environmental and social damage caused by Ukrainian agro-giant Myronivsky Hliboprodukt (MHP), independent investigators are now looking into the role of international public finance in contributing to those harms. Considering the current food crisis, Ukraine’s important role in the global food supply chain and the prospect of more international investments to prop up Ukraine’s economy, it is time for financiers to learn the lessons of their past mistakes.
Read moreHow many elephants does it take to build a gas pipeline?
Blog entry | 23 January, 2023In October 2022, the EBRD published no fewer than eight environmental and social assessments on the Greece – North Macedonia fossil gas pipeline for public consultation. Thousands of pages analyse every nook and cranny along the planned route, but fail to notice the elephant in the room: the project’s massive greenhouse gas emissions.
Read moreEIB moves to curb intermediated hydropower financing
Blog entry | 29 July, 2022The EU’s house bank has recently updated its exclusion list, a document detailing what kind of projects it will not finance. This finally closes a long-standing loophole allowing ill-suited intermediaries to finance hydropower projects.
Read moreEIB Global: new branding, old problems
Blog entry | 20 July, 2022With the launch of its new development branch EIB Global, the European Investment Bank (EIB) has shown its appetite for becoming a significant player in the field of development finance. However, without a major change in the Bank’s management and the shareholders’ approach to the impacts of its operations, EIB Global will remain a public relations exercise and a lost cause.
Read moreThe real cost of hydropower plants in Central Asia and the Caucasus
Blog entry | 12 July, 2022International financial institutions’ support for hydropower in Central Asia and Caucasus is fuel for environmental damage and human rights violations.
Read moreWatershed moment for EIB’s climate ambitions as EU rushes to quit Russian fossil fuels
Blog entry | 16 June, 2022More than ever before, the European Investment Bank (EIB) has to step up its climate finance game.
Read moreEU 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.
Read morePouring 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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