July 15, 2020 | Read more As the European Commission gears up to launch an Initiative meant to help coal regions in the Western Balkans and Ukraine transition to sustainable economies, Bankwatch publishes today a set of recommendations based on its experience working with the Platform for Coal Regions in Transition, on which the new Initiative will be modelled.
July 14, 2020 | Read more More than 90 per cent of Kosovo’s electricity generation comes from the two coal-fired power plants, Kosova A and Kosova B. But they are also the biggest polluters in the country and are responsible for most of the air pollution in the town of Obiliq, located between the two plants.
July 9, 2020 | Read more The European Parliament has called on the European Investment Bank (EIB), the world’s largest public lender, to facilitate Europe’s effort to tackle the climate crisis by fully aligning its investment policies and practices with the Paris climate accord.
July 8, 2020 | Read more Grasping what a 600% breach of allowed SO2 emissions means is not an easy job, but our data visualisation does just that. In addition to choking the communities where coal power plants are located, SO2 pollution from the Western Balkans often reaches as far as Russia and the Black Sea Coast to the east and Germany to the West!
June 26, 2020 | Read more An environmental impact assessment process is currently ongoing to expand the open-cast lignite mine at Gacko in Bosnia-Herzegovina. But the mine expansion started long ago.
June 23, 2020 | Read more Two and a half years since pollution control legislation under the Energy Community Treaty obliged Western Balkan governments to apply EU norms, a new Bankwatch analysis finds air pollution – primarily sulphur dioxide (SO2) and dust emissions – from coal-fired power plants remains stubbornly high, choking communities across the region and beyond.
June 22, 2020 | Read more Strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPP) are a form of often frivolous litigation used by corporations to intimidate and punish critics and silence their right to free speech. Lydian international, the tax haven-listed mining company, has repeatedly deployed the tactic against journalists and civil society as it presses forward with the Amulsar gold mine in Armenia, whilst the EBRD has stood by silently.
June 19, 2020 | Read more Brussels – Emphasising green spending in the next one trillion plus euros EU budget is the surest way to reach an agreement on the deal while leading the bloc to a more resilient recovery from the pandemic, say campaigners at CEE Bankwatch Network ahead of today’s European Council.
June 16, 2020 | Read more Prompted by widespread public resistance to small hydropower plants in the Western Balkans, the Energy Community Secretariat has recently been consulting the public on guidelines for the proper application of environmental and State aid legislation in such cases. Bankwatch’s input highlights a plethora of common deficiencies that need to be addressed.
June 16, 2020 | Read more Like many other financial institutions, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has responded to the call to join the global effort to tackle the climate crisis. And yet, over the past decade, while growing its support for renewable energy, the bank has continued to hand out public money to the fossil fuels industry.
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