June 1, 2012 | Read more Moscow, Russia — In response to a public presentation today from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development of its new mining strategy, NGOs CEE Bankwatch Network and Greenpeace Russia are calling on the bank to deprioritise investments in mining and mining-related infrastructure in order to avoid deepening the dependency of its countries of operation on raw materials exports.
May 30, 2012 | Read more Belgrade – An official from the southern Serbian town of Vreoci has begun a hunger strike on Monday to protest against what he considers the unlawful exhumation of a local cemetery to make way for coal extraction at the nearby Kolubara mine. Last year the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development approved a loan of 80 million euros to support the expansion of lignite mining at Kolubara.
May 29, 2012 | Read more The case of two Enel investments in Romania illustrates how subsidies for coal power can be ambiguous, but provide very concrete disincentives for investments in renewable energy.
May 22, 2012 | Read more In preparation to its extended lending to Arab Spring countries, the EBRD is conducting consultations with civil society. Yet the bank doesn’t seem to make an appropriate effort.
May 17, 2012 | Read more London – Almost half of the 6.7 billion euros lent by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) between 2006-2011 goes to support for fossil fuels, according to a report issued today by CEE Bankwatch Network. Support for coal, oil and gas must be discontinued altogether, argues Bankwatch, if the bank’s commendable efforts on increasing financing for renewables and energy efficiency are to have a positive impact in the global fight against climate change.
May 15, 2012 | Read more Brussels – As EU Ministers of Finance are currently gathering at the Annual General Meeting of the European Investment Bank (EIB) to discuss a possible capital increase, civil society organisations that monitor the EIB say the bank is not ready for such a move.
May 15, 2012 | Read more Ahead of the European Investment Bank’s annual meeting, Counter Balance and Bankwatch have chosen an unconventional way to remind the EIB shareholders of the bank’s chequered track record.
May 14, 2012 | Read more Brussels – On Monday night a video was projected on the building of the European Parliament which denounced the unsustainable energy portfolio of the European Investment Bank (EIB). The 1 minute video concluded with: “Make the EIB chose a brighter future before increasing its capital”, a message for EIB governors which gather Tuesday 15 May in Brussels during the bank’s Annual General Meeting. The main topic will be a possible capital increase of the EIB.
May 11, 2012 | Read more As it begins to dawn on Europe’s elite that fiscal austerity is not working after all, the European Investment Bank is once again the talk of the EU as decision-makers scramble to stimulate national economies that are hemhorraging jobs and living standards – and hope – across the continent.
April 26, 2012 | Read more Brussels – In a draft mining strategy published yesterday, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) made it clear that it intends to continue investing in the coal sector for years to come.(1) Supporting the coal sector with European public money is unacceptable, according to CEE Bankwatch Network, as it undermines the EU’s climate policy and the transition to a decarbonised European economy that the EU and the EBRD both claim to support.(2)
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