What we do - Bankwatch

From a grassroots to the international level …

We’re the largest network of grassroots, environmental and human rights groups in central and eastern Europe.

We monitor public finance institutions that are responsible for hundreds of billions of investments across the globe. The banks and funds we watch are often obscure but always important entities that function outside public scrutiny.

Together with local communities and other NGOs we work to expose their influence and provide a counterbalance to their unchecked power. We investigate the impacts of public finance, work with affected communities and local organisations across the world and help them protect their rights and livelihoods. We make sure their stories are being told in Europe’s power centers.

We regularly meet representatives of the institutions we monitor and we’re in Brussels, too, doing our bit to make Europe a fairer, cleaner and sustainable place.

Alternative news

We expose the risks of international public finance and bring critical updates from the ground.

We believe that the billions of public money should work for people and the environment.

CAMPAIGN AREAS

Beyond fossil fuels

Coal is an outdated industry on its last leg. Public finance can move our economies in a new, socially responsible direction.

Rights, democracy, development

Public money must not become an auxiliary for human rights violations or the marginalisation of affected communities.

Finance and biodiversity

A clash is raging between nature and finance. Our work where finance meets the natural world advocates for adequate protection and restoration projects to ensure a green future for all.

Energy transformation

We work to ensure that EU financial flows address the climate crisis and do no harm to people and nature. We do this by involving the public in the design and spending of EU investments.

Cities for people

City residents should have a say in how this money is spent in their cities. Their voices can help make their cities more resilient in the face of climate challenges.

INSTITUTIONS WE MONITOR

European Bank for Reconstruction and Development

European Investment Bank

Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank

Asian Development Bank

OUR PROJECTS

What’s Fuelling the Czech Automotive Motor? How the EU Modernisation Fund Subsidized Škoda Energo’s Shift to Forest Biomass

The European Union’s Modernisation Fund was established with a clear mandate to help lower-income Member States transition toward climate neutrality by upgrading energy systems, boosting efficiency, and helping recipients withstand the socio-economic shocks of decarbonisation. It is financed by revenue from the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) as a way to turn industry’s carbon emission payments into needed capital for Europe’s energy transition. Yet, in the Czech Republic, the actual results of the Modernisation Fund have not advanced the energy transition nearly as far as it needs to be. One of the most glaring examples of this is in the district heating sector.

Vienna’s climate-resilient heating transition

Vienna is one of Europe’s leaders in district heating decarbonisation. The company running it is a publicly owned utility and its system is massive, covering 35 to 40 percent of Vienna’s heat market.

Enabling Civic Engagement in Uzbekistan

CEE Bankwatch Network and Human Rights Society of Uzbekistan ‘Ezgulik’, with financial support from the EU, are implementing the project ‘Enabling Civic Engagement in Uzbekistan’, aimed at strengthening the capacity of civil society organisations and empowering them to participate effectively in development projects and programmes across Uzbekistan.