October 20, 2026 | Read more Armenia is set to host the 17th Conference of the Parties (COP17) to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) from 19 to 30 October. Hosting this high-profile environmental summit has drawn scrutiny to the government’s simultaneous backing of the controversial Amulsar gold mine project at home. At COP17, progress towards the targets of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework will be reviewed for the first time. The summit’s slogan is ‘Taking action for nature’, yet the Amulsar case illustrates how countries and international investors are ‘taking action against nature’.
October 19, 2026 | Read more Dighomi Meadows is the last surviving floodplain forest in Tbilisi. A refuge for otters, kingfishers, pond turtles and more than 40 other species protected by the Bern Convention, it was meant to be restored under a rehabilitation strategy drawn up in 2024 with support from the Asian Development Bank.
October 12, 2026 | Read more Protecting nature is often about spotting problems early, asking the right questions and knowing how to use the tools available. As members of the monitoring committee for the European Funds for Wielkopolska 2021-2027 programme, we did exactly that when we uncovered an EU-funded project that was destroying a valuable peatland in the name of climate adaptation.
September 30, 2026 | Read more Romania’s energy crisis has laid bare the risks of relying on delayed gas projects to replace coal power. Meanwhile, battery storage has been developing much faster and is already providing much-needed flexibility. Even a state-owned coal company with designs on a gas power plant is now pursuing battery storage instead.
September 30, 2026 | Read more The Recovery and Resilience Facility, the EUR 577 billion flagship instrument of NextGenerationEU, has entered its final implementation phase. Today marks the non-extendable deadline for EU Member States to submit their final payment requests for post-pandemic recovery and reform projects.
August 18, 2026 | Read more Ukraine’s public investment management (PIM) system faces a fundamental challenge: communities and ministries often know what they need, but lack the time, data, expertise and money to turn those needs into strong investment projects.
August 6, 2026 | Read more The EBRD-backed development of the 400/110/35 kV Brezna substation for Montenegro’s transmission grid is opening several crucial questions – where is the red line beyond which a project’s impact on local communities makes it unacceptable? Can this even be assessed when all the institutions and financiers involved fail to identify even the obvious impacts? And why are the project’s backers so reluctant to provide environmental documentation to the affected people?
August 4, 2026 | Read more Located below the Bjelasica mountain in northern Montenegro, the town of Kolašin is experiencing a rapid transformation. The expansion of the local ski resort, which attracted around 80,000 visitors during the 2025/2026 winter season, is accelerating tourism growth and new construction. As the town grows, local authorities face a critical challenge – ensuring that new heating infrastructure supports sustainable renewable solutions and avoids locking the town into fossil fuel-based systems for decades.
July 30, 2026 | Read more A large drainage pipe has been recently installed next to the spring of the Bunica River as part of the construction of the European Corridor Vc motorway in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Local residents became increasingly concerned and the issue gained public attention on 3 July 2026 when photographs of the works were widely shared and questions were raised about the purpose of the pipe and its potential impact on the river.
July 16, 2026 | Read more The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) failed to trigger its environmental and social safeguards as the City of Bishkek got rid of 131 trolleybuses purchased with loans from the Bank. Will any lessons be learned from this fiasco?
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