NGOs urge the European Investment Bank not to finance the Southern Gas Corridor
January 28, 2016
A group of 27 NGOs sent an open letter to the President of the European Investment Bank (EIB) today urging the Bank not to finance the Southern Gas Corridor, a 3500 kilometres-long chain of gas pipelines from Azerbaijan to Europe.
Report finds development banks fail people harmed by their projects
January 27, 2016
A new report launched today documents the hurdles communities and workers face in obtaining remedy from development banks whose projects cause them harm. The 11 civil society organizations that authored the report, Glass Half Full? The State of Accountability in Development Finance, call on development banks and the governments that run them to strengthen their systems for providing remedy to those harmed by the activities financed by the banks.
Glass Half Full? The state of accountability in development finance
January 27, 2016
Real development respects human rights and is shaped by the people it is designed to benefit. However, development projects financed by development finance institutions in many cases has been associated with the dispossession of land, loss of resources, diminished livelihoods and environmental degradation. Accountability mechanisms in theory aim to ensure that people who have been harmed by these projects receive adequate remedy. As this report shows, however, these accountability mechanisms to a large extent fail to fulfil this function, not least because they operate in a constrained environment constructed by the institutions that administer them.
“Shaping the age of gas” – how the EU is locking in a destructive path
December 17, 2015
As efforts to realise a mega gas pipeline along the Southern Gas Corridor intensify, Re:Common’s Elena Gerebizza explains how democratic rights are at stake – and are being trampled on.
EU-backed fossil fuels binge needs to end in ‘neighbourhood’ countries
December 17, 2015
Bankwatch has been taking a look at EU financing for the energy sector in 16 European Neighbourhood countries between 2007 and 2014. Alarmingly, our research has uncovered that out of at least EUR 9 billion provided by the EU to energy projects in the ENP region during the period under assessment, more than EUR 4.2 billion in financing went to hydrocarbons in contrast to the EUR 1.5 billion awarded to low carbon sources of energy and energy efficiency projects.
Prąd z wody straszy Gruzinów. Chcą zatapiać całe wsie
December 16, 2015
– Gdy budowali elektrownię, w ogóle nie było mowy o żadnym zagrożeniu. Nawet nam nie tłumaczyli, na jakiej zasadzie będzie ona działać. Dopiero teraz dowiadujemy się o niebezpieczeństwie – tłumaczy Eteri.
The energy dissonance: How EU development funds fuel climate change while leaders talk decarbonisation
November 17, 2015
EU leaders repeatedly voice commitments to spearhead the global effort to tackle climate change, primarily through long-term decarbonisation targets. But a Bankwatch research into the EU’s development funds for neighbouring regions finds that considerably more European taxpayer money is supporting fossil fuels than facilitating a sustainable energy transition.
Executive summary: European public money for the energy sector in countries of the European Neighbourhood Policy
November 17, 2015
Countries of the European Neighbourhood have received a boost to their energy sectors in the last decade, thanks in part to the prominent role played by the EU as a catalyst of both policy reforms and financing. This paper is the executive summary of an upcoming study that examines EU financing for the energy sector in 16 countries of the European Neighbourhood between 2007 and 2014.
Azerbaijan, the European Neighbourhood Policy and the EU’s energy interest
November 17, 2015
Azerbaijan has been a part of the EU Neighbourhood Policy since 2004 and has enjoyed substantial support through investments in the energy sector. As a result of cooperation on energy projects, the EU is today Azerbaijan’s main trading partner, with bilateral trade amounting to more than EUR 16.7 billion in 2014. But while the European Commission’s 2014 progress report on Azerbaijan stressed the good progress in the EU’s partnership with Azerbaijan, problems for ordinary Azeris are increasing.
Executive summary: the Eastern Neighbourhood Region and the EU’s energy interests
November 17, 2015
Since the early 1990s, the EU has actively sought the development of both the oil and gas sectors in former Soviet republics. Energy security, the cornerstone of the EU’s foreign policy became the driving force behind the European Neighbourhood Policy. Investments through the EU’s Neighbourhood Policy Instrument and public banks have supported the development of unsustainable energy systems in most Eastern Partnership (EaP) countries. Like in other countries, the EaP region received more for fossil fuels than renewable sources of energy.