February 14, 2019 | Read more Brussels, for immediate release – A vote today by the Parliament on the future European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and Cohesion Funds for 2021-2027 opens the possibilities for continued funding of fossil fuels, in spite of the EU’s obligations to reduce greenhouse gases under the Paris Agreement and its net-zero emissions Long Term Strategy.
February 13, 2019 | Read more The Plomin 1 coal plant, on Croatia’s Istrian coast, is already 50 years old. In 2017 it closed due to a fire. Yet the Croatian Ministry of Environmental Protection and Energy looks set to allow Plomin 1’s owner, HEP, to bring it back from the dead without even an environmental impact assessment.
February 13, 2019 | Read more Today the members of the European Parliament adopted the Common Provisions Regulation, which sets the principles and common rules on how Cohesion Policy funding should be spent from 2021 to 2027. Civil society groups CEE Bankwatch Network and Climate Action Network (CAN) Europe welcome the agreed climate-friendly provisions, including the exclusion of fossil fuel investments, but they must be reflected in tomorrow’s vote on the Regional Development Fund in order to become reality.
February 11, 2019 | Read more After almost a year of struggling to get basic environmental information from the EBRD about the Krapska hydropower project, Bankwatch has submitted an official complaint [1] to the bank’s Secretary General. As we run the same administrative circles over and over again, another precious river valley has been irreversibly damaged.
February 8, 2019 | Read more “We invest in changing lives” is the slogan of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, whose investments in 2018 reached EUR 9.5 billion through 395 projects. Whether the change is for better depends on the bank’s environmental and human rights safeguards.
February 7, 2019 | Read more Brussels – In a complaint lodged today with the European Investment Bank (EIB), civil society groups protest that the bank systematically underestimated the climate footprint of a fossil fuel mega project, the Southern Gas Corridor, which helped justify providing it with major financial support using EU public money.
January 31, 2019 | Read more Brussels / Sofia – the European Commission has been accused of failing to monitor how EU funds are being spent in Bulgaria, according to a complaint [1] filed to the European Ombudsman over the Commission’s handling of a motorway project that threatens a protected Natura 2000 site.
January 22, 2019 | Read more Brussels, for immediate release – Today the European Parliament’s Committee on Regional Development (REGI) adopted the so-called Common Provisions Regulation, which sets the conditions and principles governing the funding for Cohesion Policy from 2021 to 2027. NGO groups CEE Bankwatch Network and Climate Action Network (CAN) Europe welcome the regulation, which exceeds the European Commission’s proposal by introducing new and additional safeguards against climate change.
January 16, 2019 | Read more Strasbourg, Brussels – Today the European Parliament took a disappointing stance on climate when voting to approve the establishment of InvestEU, the EU’s financing tool to attract private investments – say NGO groups CEE Bankwatch Network, Climate Action Network (CAN) Europe, WWF European Policy Office, and Counter Balance. The approved investment package keeps the door open to further public investments in fossil fuels, which is incompatible with the requirements of the Paris Climate Agreement.
January 16, 2019 | Read more The new gold mine in Krumovgrad boasts environmental performance and social responsibility, yet there are black spots along the path of the Bulgarian gold around the globe.
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