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Ukrainian court backs state attempt to stifle public debate on ageing nuclear fleet

Kiev – Today a Kiev court ruled in favour of a defamation lawsuit brought by the Ukrainian state against a civil society organisation, thus backing the government’s attempts to suppress public debate on the country’s ageing nuclear fleet.

The state nuclear energy operator Energoatom brought the suit against CEE Bankwatch Network member the National Ecological Centre of Ukraine (NECU), alleging that NECU had published misleading information about safety standards at Unit 2 of the South Ukraine nuclear power plant.

The lawsuit referred to a press release from 15 May 2015 in which NECU reported on the state nuclear regulator’s decision to shut down the nuclear unit once it reached its design lifetime because the insufficient safety standards at the time did not allow the prolonged operation.

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Earlier this month Greens MEP Rebecca Harms visited Kiev and discussed the lawsuit against NECU with Energoatom representatives and Ukraine’s deputy environment minister. “This (lawsuit) is nonsense, discussion is needed instead,” she said in a radio interview.

In its ruling today, the court upheld Energoatom’s request, which was later joined by the state nuclear regulator, to order NECU to publish a statement saying that parts of the press release were false.

“Nuclear safety is one of the pressing issues facing Ukraine. But today’s court ruling makes clear that the state can guarantee neither nuclear safety nor public debate,” says Iryna Holovko, Bankwatch’s national campaigner in Ukraine.

Despite the case attracting international attention, the Ukrainian government appears keen to block the public debate, not only at home but also abroad. International treaties oblige Ukraine to launch environmental impact assessment and public consultations in neighbouring countries before extending the lifetime of the Soviet-era reactors.

The European Commission has acknowledged this requirement, and the authorities in at least three neighbouring EU countries have already approached their Ukrainian counterparts on the matter, but Kiev so far refuses to cooperate.

In the meantime, Ukraine’s ageing nuclear fleet receive EUR 600 million in loans from the EU’s nuclear energy body Euratom and from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development for safety upgrades even though nine nuclear units will have exceeded their initial expiry date by 2020. Three units already operate beyond their designed lifetime.

In less than two months, the Ukrainian nuclear regulator will consider again the lifetime extension for the South Ukraine nuclear unit in question, and for unit 1 at the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, which is just 250 kilometres from the front lines of the ongoing conflict in eastern Ukraine.

“It is crucial that Ukraine’s decision making procedure is brought in line with international requirements, in particular with those that provide for full environmental impact assessment, assessment of alternatives and proper public participation,” says Holovko. “Today’s court decision will not prevent us from continuing to demand this.”

For more information contact:

Iryna Holovko
National campaigner for Ukraine
CEE Bankwatch Network
iryna@bankwatch.org
Tel.+380 50 647 6700

Note to editors:

For more on Ukraine’s nuclear units lifetime extension program see here: https://bankwatch.org/our-work/projects/nuclear-power-plant-safety-upgrades-ukraine

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EBRD policy breaches at Serbia coal mine confirmed by bank’s own complaint mechanism

Prague, Belgrade – A day after the Board of Directors of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) approved a new EUR 200 million loan for Serbia’s electric utility Elektroprivreda Srbije (EPS), an internal review at the Bank finds that it breached its own environmental and social policy when approving the previous EUR 80 million loan to the same company.

The report (pdf) published today by the EBRD’s independent Project Complaint Mechanism (PCM) is the result of an investigation into a 2011 loan to EPS to buy new mining equipment for the highly controversial Kolubara lignite mine.

The findings of the PCM report respond to two complaints – the first (pdf) filed with the bank by the Ecological Society of Vreoci and the Vreoci local council in 2012, and the second (pdf) by CEE Bankwatch Network member the Centre for Ecology and Sustainable Development (CEKOR) in 2013.

“The EBRD’s pick-and-choose approach to environmental and social assessment enabled straightforward support for the lignite sector to be presented as an ‘environmental improvement’ project,” says Fidanka Bacheva-McGrath, EBRD Policy Officer at Bankwatch. “The compliance review findings now confirm our view that this is unacceptable.”

The complaints centred around the EBRD’s pre-project environmental and social assessment, which evaluated the impacts of only selected parts of the Kolubara mine basin. The assessment also downplayed the negative aspects of the project, such as supporting mine expansion and creating the preconditions for the construction of a new coal power plant. Most notably, by excluding the village of Vreoci from its assessment, the bank attempted to avoid responsibility for the collective resettlement of 1180 households from Vreoci.

“Vreoci’s over 3000 residents suffer from unbearable noise, dust, limited access to running water, and smoke from spontaneous combustion of coal due to the mine operations and related transportation infrastructure, but have been waiting for nearly a decade to be collectively resettled”, explains Zvezdan Kalmar, Co-ordinator for Energy and Monitoring of International Financial Institutions at CEKOR. “The EBRD maintained that Vreoci is not part of the project it finances. But as well as being morally bereft this claim has now also been shown to be incompliant with the bank’s own policies”.

As the new report shows, the EBRD also failed to adequately assess the extent of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the project. The bank admitted in a document presented to its Board of Directors before project approval that the new mining equipment would enable the production of lignite with more uniform quality, which was a precondition for a new power plant at the site. However, it omitted the GHG emissions from the new plant in its calculations and as a result presented the project as leading to reductions of emissions instead of increases. As the compliance report puts it: “The GHG assessment undertaken on the ‘Project’ is piecemeal, unsubstantiated in terms of supporting information […] and inconsistent with EBRD guidance and international good practice.”

The new loan, approved yesterday, is to be the bank’s fifth loan to EPS since 2001. The EBRD’s Management has responded (pdf) to the PCM report by persuading its client EPS to develop “an overall Resettlement Framework which will apply to all of its activities, including across the Kolubara mining basin”. It also committed that the EBRD will monitor the implementation of the plan.

“If the EBRD has learned any lessons from the PCM process, the new loan must come with strong conditions that demonstrate both the EBRD’s and its client’s commitments to ensure resolution for impacted communities through a new ambitious and well-resourced environmental and social strategy,” says Ioana Ciuta, Bankwatch’s Energy Co-ordinator. “The bank must also fulfil its commitment to help Serbia phase out coal and thus include conditions to ensure that EPS develops a strategy for diversification of the energy sector, including increased investment in energy efficiency and sustainable renewable energy.”

For more information contact:

Zvezdan Kalmar
Co-ordinator for Energy and Monitoring of International Financial Institutions, CEKOR (Serbia)
vodana@gmail.com
+381 65 55 23 191

Ioana Ciuta
Energy Co-ordinator, CEE Bankwatch Network
ioana.ciuta@bankwatch.org
+40 724 020 281
Twitter: @unaltuser

Czech government pushes people to edge in new coal mine expansion

Prague – In a landmark decision today, the Czech Republic reversed a quarter century-old ban that prohibited the expansion of surface mining in an area of Northern Bohemia, allowing excavation in close vicinity of homes of more than 120 000 people.

Established in 1991 shortly after Czech independence, the limits of the Bílina mine have been redrawn, now allowing the mining operations to expand to up to 500 meters from the homes of the town of Braňany, raising concerns about the eventual toll on local residents’ health.

In a letter sent last week by the Czech Academy of Science to Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka, scientists detailed how health costs and related economic losses as a result of extending the mine’s boundaries would cost the country EUR 370 million and the European Union almost EUR 5 billion [1].

Coal use in the region has already been found to be related to instances of asthma, respiratory and cardiovascular disease and cancer. Alena Dernerova, member of the Czech senate and doctor by profession, said in a statement from September 24th that a year of breathing Northern Bohemian air reduces life expectancy by nine and a half days each year.

The low quality lignite to be extracted in the newly opened area of Bílina mine is also responsible for five percent of all carbon dioxide emissions of Czech coal deposits.

Ondřej Pašek of CEE Bankwatch Network said:

“The Czech government has sent a clear signal to the public and made a mockery of the EU’s commitment to a low-carbon transition. While the government has received billions of euros in EU funds for much needed energy savings measures, today’s decision makes those investments wasted money and a step backwards for the Czech energy sector and economy.”

Notes:

[1] See Environment Centre, Charles University: “Quantification of environmental and health impacts (externalities)”, 2015; http://download.mpo.cz/get/53560/61109/636770/priloha001.pdf

For more information please contact:

Ondrej Pasek
Energy expert, CEE Bankwatch Network
E: ondrej.pasek@bankwatch.org
Twitter: @opasek

CSOs deliver over 16 000 signatures for a cleaner energy future in Tirana

Tirana, Albania – A group of CSOs from South East Europe (SEE) delivered over 16 000 petition signatures to Miguel Arias Cañete, EU Commissioner for Energy and Climate Action and Co-Chair of the Ministerial Council of the Energy Community today before its meeting in Tirana, Albania.

The regional petition was based on three demands: increasing energy efficiency in homes, cleaning up the corrupt energy systems of the region and adopting and fulfilling EU climate goals and targets. The petition has been signed by 16 229 citizens from SEE countries [1] that are members of the Energy Community.

The petition was delivered on the day the Ministerial Council approved a Roadmap on the future of the Energy Community. The Roadmap includes plans to adopt additional environmental and procurement legislation and improvements to controls on state aid. These measures are crucial to put an end to the lower environmental standards that Energy Community residents suffer from compared to the EU and to halt the stream of public money being wasted on supporting dirty energy sources. However, the document is light on detail and non-committal on the issue of much-needed strengthening of the Energy Community’s enforcement mechanism.

“Just within one year, the results of air pollution in Kosovo amount to 835 premature deaths, 600 hospital admissions, and 11 600 emergency visits [2]. If these are the results of using dirty coal, is it worth supporting similar projects in the future?”, asks Kushtrim Kaloshi of Kosovo-based CSO Advocacy and Training Resource Center (ATRC).

Dejan Milovac of CSO MANS from Montenegro, where another unit of the Pljevlja lignite power plant with installed capacity of 254 MW is planned, emphasizes the importance of long-term policies. “Shortsighted and irresponsible decision making is already leaving an irreversible print on the lives of the millions in this part of Europe. Coal is not only polluting the air we breathe and the soil we use to bring food to our families, it is deeply corrupting the future of our children, leaving them to cope with the consequences of tomorrow.”

As Albania ends its presidency of the Energy Community and Bosnia and Herzegovina begins, Ermelinda Mahmutaj of Albanian CSO EDEN Center states that advocating the demands of the petition will continue. “The current policies of SEE countries pay only lip-service to the EU energy and climate pathway, therefore we will continue with our efforts, as the fulfillment of these demands is possible if there is political will and with the help of the generous alternative energy sources our region has.”

Signed organizations:
SEE Change Net
Analytica (Macedonia**)
ATRC (Kosovo*)
CEKOR (Serbia)
CPI (Bosnia and Herzegovina)
CZZS (Bosnia and Herzegovina)
DOOR (Croatia)
EDEN (Albania)
Ekolevizja (Albania)
Eko-Svest (Macedonia**)
Forum for Freedom in Education (Croatia)
Fractal (Serbia)
Front 21/42 (Macedonia**)
Green Home (Montenegro)
MANS (Montenegro)
WWF Adria
CEE Bankwatch
Climate Action Network Europe

Notes for Editors:

[1] Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo*, Macedonia**, Montenegro, Serbia. Croatia is not a member of Energy Community anymore, but Croatian partner CSOs provided support to the petition and its demands.

[2] Source: http://www.kosovalive360.com/per-nje-vit-835-vdekje-te-parakohshme-nga-ndotja-e-ajrit.html

Contacts:

Masha Durkalić
SEE Change Net Communication Officer
masha@seechangenet.org
+ 387 33 213 716

Joint reaction on the Energy Community’s Roadmap from CEE Bankwatch Network and Climate Action Network Europe


On Friday 16th October the Ministerial Council meeting in Tirana adopted a Roadmap on the future of the Energy Community.[1]

The joint reaction from CEE Bankwatch Network and Climate Action Network (CAN) Europe follows:

Ioana Ciuta, Energy Co-ordinator at CEE Bankwatch Network:

“The Energy Community’s Roadmap is significant as a declaration of political intentions to narrow the gap between the Energy Community countries and the EU in terms of environmental standards, procurement and subsidies in the energy sector. Unfortunately though, it is very light on detail and much work is still needed to translate this intent into reality.

“We very much welcome the adoption of the Energy Efficiency Directive by the Energy Community and urge the countries to start with implementation without delay, not just for the sake of compliance, but because of the huge cost and comfort benefits that can be reaped from saving energy.”

For more information contact

Ioana Ciuta
Energy Coordinator, CEE Bankwatch Network
ioana.ciuta@bankwatch.org
Tel.: +40 724 020 281

Notes

1. The documents from the Energy Community meeting, including the Roadmap are available at:
https://www.energy-community.org/portal/page/portal/ENC_HOME/INST_AND_MEETINGS?event_reg.category=E14340

Major blow for Croatian coal plant as Crédit Agricole announces new coal power policy


Paris, France – Today’s publication of new criteria for coal-fired power plant financing by French bank Crédit Agricole suggests that the bank will not be able to finance the controversial €800 million Plomin C coal power plant in Croatia, believe campaign groups. [1] The policy now rules out finance for coal power plants in high-income countries, which includes Croatia.

The new policy from Crédit Agricole has been announced less than a month after the publication by Friends of the Earth France and Croatia, BankTrack and CEE Bankwatch Network of a study which shows the incompatibility of the Plomin C project with the bank’s own corporate social responsibility standards. [2] Crédit Agricole had responded to the report and publicly defended its advisory role in the project [3]. However today’s policy changes now rule out the bank’s involvement in Plomin C.

Lucie Pinson, campaigner at Friends of the Earth France, said:

“This is one more victory for civil society against the banking industry’s support for coal and we welcome this further step from the only French bank so far to have ended its support for coal mining.”

Bernard Ivčić, director of Friends of the Earth Croatia, said:

“By losing the support from its advisory bank, the project promoter Marubeni will now be faced with a much bigger problem to find the necessary financing from international banks. This is one more obstacle for a project that besides being a hazard for health and the environment also violates local and European laws. Alternatives to fossil fuels exist. Only 12.5% of wind potential and 0.2% of solar photovoltaic potential has been utilised in Croatia. Crédit Agricole must focus its support in these high potential energy sectors.” [4]

Yann Louvel, Climate and energy coordinator for BankTrack, said:

“The adoption of new coal criteria by Crédit Agricole proves that mobilising is paying off. Already in March this year we congratulated the commitment from French banks not to finance the development in Australia of the world’s largest coal zone, as well as the decision from Crédit Agricole to end its support for coal mine projects and for companies specialised in the coal mining sector. Today we are stepping up pressure on all international banks to serve notice to the coal sector before the Paris climate summit by signing the Paris Pledge to quit coal.” [5]

Other major banks, such as BNP Paribas, a sponsor of the Paris climate summit and France’s top coal financing bank, have yet to make any commitments that would bring about an end to their coal financing. [6]

Lucie Pinson commented:

“We are still a long way from climate excellence and the new Crédit Agricole policy is still very disappointing given the stakes. New coal-fired power plants should not be being built anywhere. Yet the Crédit Agricole policy only rules out finance for them in high-income countries. Thus, it’s business as usual in 88% of the market. These new criteria only make Crédit Agricole the best of the worst students in the class, but it is vital that other banks now start to move.” [7]

Civil society organisations are now focused on stepping up pressure on the worst coal finance offenders, including BNP Paribas in France, Deutsche Bank in Germany and Morgan Stanley in the United States. Friends of the Earth France is calling on customers of major banks to participate in a day of action on October 10 and switch their accounts away from climate damaging banks to banks with no fossil fuels in their portfolios.

For more information, contact:

Lucie Pinson, Friends of the Earth France,
Tel: +33 9 72 43 92 62
Email:lucie.pinson@amisdelaterre.org

Yann Louvel, BankTrack,
Tel: +33 06 88 90 78 68
Email: yann@banktrack.org

Bernard Ivčić, Friends of the Earth Croatia,
Tel: +385 99 314 9138
Email: bernard@zelena-akcija.hr

Pippa Gallop, CEE Bankwatch Network,
Tel: +385 997 559 78
Email: pippa.gallop@bankwatch.org

Notes for editors:

1. Crédit Agricole announcement, September 30, 2015, only in French:
http://www.credit-agricole.com/Actualites-et-decryptage/Communiques-de-presse/Communiques-generaux/Communique-Credit-Agricole-S.A.-Credit-Agricole-S.A.-prend-de-nouveaux-engagements-face-aux-enjeux-du-charbon-et-du-carbone?hootPostID=cf40402b99ba4ae8588fdd2ac77d12ee

2. See press release, September 10, 2015:
http://www.banktrack.org/show/news/credit_agricole_violating_own_coal_policies_with_new_croatian_power_plant_support_new_report

3. Crédit Agricole answer to Friends of the Earth France and BankTrack, September 10, 2015:
http://www.credit-agricole.com/en/News-analysis/Positions/10-September-2015-Credit-Agricole-s-answer-to-Amis-de-la-Terre-Plomin-C

4. Wind potential: Sander and Partner (data provided for the SEE SEP energy modelling project and used for the Balkan wind atlas http://balkan.wind-index.com/). Installed wind capacity in Croatia:
http://www.ewea.org/fileadmin/files/library/publications/statistics/EWEA-Annual-Statistics-2014.pdf

Technical potential for solar PV (rooftops only): DOOR, data used for SEE-SEP 2050 energy model. Installed PV capacity:
http://www.pv-magazine.com/news/details/beitrag/croatian-pv-sector-owes-it-all-to-rooftops_100017362/#axzz3loVINDAS

5. See: http://dotheparispledge.org/

6. See: http://coalbanks.org/#score

7. According to the database Global Coal Plant Tracker, which gathers information on every known coal-fired electrical generating unit proposed since January 1, 2010, 12% are in high income countries using the World Bank’s definition.

Image by Zelena Akcjia