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.
September 23, 2014 | Read more Currently presiding over the EU-backed Energy Community’s Minsterial Council, Ukraine will likely try to dilute environmental regulations in the Treaty. But the country’s ageing coal-fired power plants are troubled by inefficiency and pollution and in dire need of environmental improvements.
September 22, 2014 | Read more Brussels – A group of leading NGOs active in the Balkan region are calling for urgent reform of the Energy Community Treaty, as its Ministerial Council prepares to meet in Kiev on September 23rd. The groups are calling for both the expansion of the environmental and climate component of the Treaty and measures to ensure that existing obligations are better enforced.
September 22, 2014 | Read more I had a strong sense of deja-vu today. On 31 March 2008, residents of the Zagreb suburb of Resnik held a protest against plans for a 385 000 tonnes per year waste incinerator which was to be built nearby. It was a sunny day and the majority of Resnik’s residents came along to show their opposition to yet another industrial facility being built in their neighbourhood and to push for a waste management system built on waste prevention and recycling.
September 22, 2014 | Read more A new unit at the Kostolac coal-fired power plant in Serbia is the first coal project to be considered by the Espoo Convention Implementation Committee for transboundary impacts.
September 11, 2014 | Read more Brussels — The priorities of European Commission president elect Jean-Claude Juncker for the newly-announced Commission threaten Europe’s climate and resource efficiency ambitions, says CEE Bankwatch Network. Particularly worrying from the perspective of CEE countries is an apparent shift in the vision of Regional Policy from making the European economy more sustainable, to “jobs, growth, investment and competitiveness” without any nod to green energy and resource efficiency.
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