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Ido Liven
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Browse our press releases below
To keep homes warm in the Western Balkans, look beneath the surface
Blog entry | 26 October, 2023Geothermal energy as a sustainable source for district heating is gathering steam around the world. Many municipalities in the Western Balkans urgently need to break free from dirty and expensive fossil fuel-based heating. One little-known way of doing so is to tap the region’s geothermal potential lying right below their feet.
Read moreMontenegrin NGOs counter Varhelyi pledge on LNG terminal
Press release | 24 October, 202327 civil society organisations have sent a joint letter to the European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, (1) questioning a recent statement by Enlargement Commissioner Olivér Várhelyi that the EU would help Montenegro to build a liquified gas (LNG) terminal at the port of Bar (2), and calling on the EU not to support the project.
Read moreSkopje’s five-year subsidy saga has left residents with uninsulated homes
Blog entry | 20 October, 2023Back in 2018, following a public call by the Centar municipality in Skopje, 26 buildings were approved to receive energy-efficient façades. Yet only one building has been retrofitted in five years, leaving the residents in the other 25 buildings back at square one, disheartened by the whole process and forced to look for other alternatives to insulate their old buildings.
Read moreThe Montenegrin mountain town pursuing sustainable district heating
Blog entry | 5 October, 2023As cities and towns across central and eastern Europe work toward decarbonising their heating systems, the need to deploy renewable energy alternatives in the sector has never been greater. The small town of Žabljak, nestled in the mountainous region of northern Montenegro, is at the forefront of this effort.
Read moreThe European Bank for Reconstruction and Development must do more to safeguard biodiversity in its new environmental policy
Blog entry | 4 October, 2023As the global biodiversity crisis grows ever more urgent, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development’s (EBRD) environmental policy and practice is proving insufficient to prevent harm to nature, let alone allow its restoration. The Bank’s review of its environmental and social policy in the coming months must provide a proportionate response to the scale of the problem.
Read moreThousands demand European development bank stops financing fossil fuels
Press release | 27 September, 2023Over 6200 emails have been sent to the European Bank for Reconstruction Development (EBRD) calling for its next energy policy to end financing for fossil fuels and step up investments in the energy transition.
Read moreBulgarian court rules out Sofia waste incinerator plant due to unassessed health risks and lack of public consultation
Press release | 26 September, 2023After eight years of litigation, Sofia’s Administrative Court overturned the environmental impact assessment (EIA) for a waste incineration plant in the Bulgarian capital. Expected to burn processed waste in the form of refuse-derived fuel (RDF), the plant would have put the health of Sofia’s residents at risk, polluted the air, generated toxic ash and created additional traffic, the court ruled.
Read moreWhy we’re taking legal action on renewables permitting
Blog entry | 22 September, 2023It might seem counterintuitive for organisations that promote a sustainable energy transition to challenge EU initiatives to speed up renewable energy deployment. But due to undemocratic decisions that undermine environmental safeguards and public participation, that’s what we’ve been compelled to do.
Read moreSkavica mega dam: Albanian court to scrutinise special law for U.S. contractor Bechtel
Press release | 21 September, 2023Nature conservation and human rights organisations have secured an important first milestone in the fight against the planned 210 MW Skavica hydropower plant in the Albanian municipalities of Kukës and Dibër.
Read moreCivil society groups urge the EBRD to rethink mining investments
Press release | 20 September, 2023Twenty civil society organisations from Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Mongolia, Uganda, Ukraine and Uzbekistan, as well as seven international environmental and human rights organisations, are calling on the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) to reconsider its approach to mining investments.
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