October 15, 2014 | Read more Ljubljana, Slovenia: Slovenian police yesterday reported that ten people had been charged with fraud in relation to the beleaguered Sostanj 6 lignite power plant project, causing a suspected EUR 284 million in financial harm to Slovene electricity consumers. The charges serve as a new warning to decision-makers across the Western Balkans to closely scrutinise coal power plant projects planned across the region if the mistakes made in the Sostanj 6 project in Slovenia are not to be repeated, warned several NGOs today.
October 8, 2014 | Read more Brussels – The Green 10, the alliance of leading environmental NGOs in Europe, reiterates the call to reject the Commission unless rigorous changes of mandates, job titles and re-allocation of posts are made.
October 8, 2014 | Read more The European Investment Bank (EIB) and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) are ranked 16th and 17th respectively out of 17 multilateral organisations on the 2014 Aid Transparency Index (ATI) which is published today. The transparency index comes at a momentous time for the EIB as the institution is currently reviewing its transparency policy and NGOs fear that the ‘EU bank’ is preparing to further downgrade its transparency requirements.
October 7, 2014 | Read more Road construction in Poland can be a cause for great controversy in Poland not least when incomprehensible roads designs clash with nature.
October 6, 2014 | Read more Georgian Urban Energy (GUE), the company in charge of constructing the Paravani hydropower plant (HPP), has been keeping secret a study on the potential flooding risks associated with the facility, despite requests and promises from the EBRD that such an analysis would be made public.
October 6, 2014 | Read more Bijeljina, R. Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina, 6.10.2014: The Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) study for the planned Ugljevik III lignite power plant near Bijeljina in Bosnia and Herzegovina contains data on the plant’s SO2, NOx and dust emissions which is demonstrably false, and the study is missing key information needed to assess the plant’s environmental impact, according to a new analysis submitted by NGO Center for Environment to the responsible Ministry today.
October 2, 2014 | Read more Zagreb — Japan’s Marubeni Corporation and France’s Alstom – who have together been chosen as the preferred bidding consortium for the Plomin C* coal power plant project in Croatia – have a poor integrity record including several convictions for corruption offences which should raise alarm bells and increase vigilance among the Croatian public and potential financiers of the project, according to a new paper by CEE Bankwatch Network, published today.
October 1, 2014 | Read more Brussels – The group of four Visegrad countries (Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia) plus Romania and Bulgaria declared yesterday their readiness to block EU 2030 binding renewables and energy efficiency targets which are to be agreed upon at a European Council Oct. 23-24. Yet cracks are appearing in the group.
September 29, 2014 | Read more Brussels — As a new process of identifying big EU energy Projects of Common Interest (PCIs) kicks off in Brussels today, environmental NGOs warn that the EU must only prioritise energy projects which are not destructive of the environment and climate, and that the choice of these projects must be done through a transparent process.
September 26, 2014 | Read more The recent rejection to release Evgeny Vitishko’s, an imprisoned environmental activist in Russia, illustrates the backlash against fundamental rights and freedoms in some countries. Multilateral development banks need to take notice of this trend and be more wary of the risk that their lending may strengthen authoritarian regimes.
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