June 17, 2025 | Read more In 2024, Western Balkan governments’ chronic law enforcement failures allowed sulphur dioxide (SO2) pollution from the region’s antiquated coal power plants to exceed legal limits by six times, according to the seventh edition of Bankwatch’s Comply or Close report, published today (1). Dust and nitrogen oxides (NOx) pollution from coal plants also continued to exceed legal limits.
June 16, 2025 | Read more 28 years since the Struma motorway project in Bulgaria started, the Save Kresna Gorge coalition, Road Infrastructure Agency and Ministry of Environment and Water have reached a landmark agreement to implement the final section of the motorway outside the Kresna Gorge.
June 13, 2025 | Read more The mid-term review was intended as a mechanism to address implementation issues and reallocate resources to priority areas. In reality, however, it has taken a very different turn.
June 13, 2025 | Read more With just weeks to go before the European Commission’s deadline for national social climate plan submissions, a new analysis by E3G and Bankwatch reveals alarmingly uneven progress across central and eastern Europe. Examining the state of play in eight EU Member States, the report highlights persistent transparency gaps, weak stakeholder engagement, and protracted delays.
June 4, 2025 | Read more The European Union’s Social Climate Fund presents Bulgaria – one of the EU’s poorest Member States – with a significant opportunity to tackle energy and transport poverty. Under this funding instrument, the country has been allocated a total of EUR 2.5 billion for the 2026–2032 period. However, concerns are mounting that weak planning, institutional resistance to reform, and a lack of transparency could prevent this funding from reaching the people who need it most.
June 2, 2025 | Read more From grassroots defiance to a force for accountability, Bankwatch’s story begins long before its founding in 1995. Amid collapsing regimes, our network channelled the energy of civil resistance into a brave new experiment in public oversight and transparency.
May 28, 2025 | Read more 68 civil society organisations have today issued a joint statement calling on the EU to ensure dedicated funds for environmental protection and just transition of coal-dependent regions in the Western Balkans in the post-2027 EU budget.
May 27, 2025 | Read more CEE Bankwatch Network and Eko-svest have recently raised serious concerns regarding a proposed coal mining project in North Macedonia. The plan to open a new lignite mine in the Pelagonija region comes as a surprise, as the region is already affected by three other operating mines and the project contradicts the country’s coal phase-out commitments.
May 26, 2025 | Read more On 20 March 2025, Berlin marked a major milestone in its energy transition. Blockheizkraftwerks- Träger- und Betreibergesellschaft mbH (BTB) – one of the city’s district heating suppliers – officially burned coal for the last time at its Schöneweide district heating plant. This decisive step paves the way for a cleaner, smarter, and more collaborative energy future for the German capital – and beyond.
May 14, 2025 | Read more Latvia is rethinking how it allocates its EU cohesion policy funds, as growing security concerns linked to the regional geopolitical climate put pressure on previously agreed green investment priorities. But will this shift towards national defence undermine the country’s long-term environmental and climate goals?
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