Last call for EU bank to uphold UN treaty on transparency
Blog entry | 19 May, 2021For too long, transparency and public participation have been a low priority for the European Investment Bank (EIB). Now it appears the world’s largest international lender is even in breach of international environmental law on access to information and public participation.
Read moreScientific studies reveal river ‘sickness’ from small hydropower plants in Serbia
Blog entry | 21 April, 2021Projects financed by the EIB through secretive intermediary banks destroy 10 km of supposedly protected rivers for only 2 MW of energy.
Read moreThirsty hydropower: misuse of drinking water pipelines has destroyed a river in Bulgaria
Blog entry | 30 March, 2021The Blagoevgradska Bistritsa hydropower cascade was planned to use only the drinking water of the town of Blagoevgrad. Eight years later, it has used more than double the water allowed, leaving the river ‘even without frogs’. Our latest report shows the need for more scrutiny of EIB and EBRD lending through intermediary banks.
Read moreDemonstrators demand cleaner skies as Bulgaria presses on with incinerator
Blog entry | 26 March, 2021Close to one hundred people from Sofia and the industrial northern town of Devnya took to the streets of the capital in protest against incineration and the air pollution affecting both towns, where the government pushes ahead with false solutions to the EU’s circular economy agenda.
Read moreEU bank failing on transparency and openness, warns civil society
Press release | 11 March, 2021Brussels – The European Investment Bank (EIB) is a laggard among its lending peers in terms of the amount of information it provides about its activities, finds a new analysis.The 53 civil society groups behind this analysis — including CEE Bankwatch Network, Counter Balance, Client Earth and many more — are urging the Bank to be more open about the impacts of its financing.
Read moreStep into the light: transparency review at EU bank can end culture of secrecy
Blog entry | 11 March, 2021The European Investment Bank, one of the largest lenders globally, is currently working on a new transparency policy that will govern how and what information the bank makes public. As the EU’s house bank, the EIB must guarantee the right of all citizens to access information held by public bodies.
Read moreActions speak louder than words: gender equality policies in development banks
Blog entry | 8 March, 2021Promoting gender rights and women’s empowerment has become a trend among multilateral development banks (MDBs). Organising discussions on best practices and promoting gender-related issues is welcome, but it is crucial that banks ensure meaningful protection and support to the women most affected by international public investments.
Read moreWhy is the EU’s house bank still hiding one-third of its lending?
Blog entry | 3 March, 2021The EIB’s lending through intermediary banks is often claimed to be confidential. But this is public money, and the bank’s peers are increasingly doing better. As the EIB reviews its Transparency Policy, it’s high time to up its game.
Read moreEIB needs fundamental reforms to back its sustainable finance plans
Press release | 20 January, 2021Following today’s annual press conference of the European Investment Bank (EIB), in which the Bank’s President Werner Hoyer, presented its role in supporting the EU’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic and the ensuing economic downturn in “smart and green” way, Bankwatch’s campaigners commented on the EIB’s sustainability track record and key deficiencies in the Bank’s policies that have been missing in President Hoyer’s statements today.
Read moreNEW REPORT: Is the EIB too faulty to become the ‘EU Development Bank’?
Press release | 9 November, 2020With the EU actively debating the reshaping of its development role in the context of the current global health and economic challenges and the ‘Finance in Common’ summit kicking off today, the European Investment Bank (EIB) is looking to take center stage as the new ‘EU Development Bank’.
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