Bulgarian villagers call on the EBRD to ensure fair resettlement by coal company it finances
May 29, 2019
Beli Bryag, Bulgaria – Around one hundred villagers in the village of Beli Bryag, in Bulgaria’s Stara Zagora region, are anxiously awaiting for a resolution to their claims of proper resettlement by the Maritsa East mines, the company gearing up to expand its lignite mine to where the village currently stands. They have only until the end of the year before they are expropriated. [1]
Corporate loans – the rotten apple in EBRD’s Environmental and Social Policy?
April 18, 2019
As the Board of Directors is expected to vote any day now on the renewed Policy which lays out the conditions for reaching the Bank’s sustainability mandate and commitment to EU standards, a compliance review on Serbia’s energy company’s corporate restructuring loan calls for clearer and stronger safeguards for corporate level loans.
Retrained and forgotten
April 16, 2019
This research analyses the context of downsizing the ining sector in the Jiu Valley, the concrete measures taken to mitigate the social impact in the areas hit by restructuring the mining sector and how successful these measures were.
EU-China summit an opportunity to tackle Chinese support for coal in southeast Europe
April 8, 2019
Brussels – With the EU-China summit kicking off in Brussels on April 9, Bankwatch launches a new analysis [1] showing 3.5 GW of new coal may be built in southeast Europe with Chinese support, including in EU member states Romania and Greece.
Chinese-financed coal projects in Southeast Europe
April 8, 2019
EU member states Romania and Greece, as well as several EU enlargement countries in the Western Balkans, plan to build new lignite power plants. The Balkan coal plans starkly conflict with the Paris Agreement’s aim of limiting climate change to 1.5°C b
Slovak aspects of the EIB Energy Lending Policy
March 31, 2019
One of the biggest challenges in Slovakia is to ensure systematic support for the development of decentralised, non-fossil and sustainable energy system. The European Investment Bank (EIB) already invested far too much into fossil gas (77 per cent of a
Energy Community opens infringement procedure against Bosnia-Herzegovina over illegal Tuzla 7 state aid
March 26, 2019
The Energy Community Secretariat has today announced that it is officially opening a dispute settlement procedure on the planned Federal guarantee for a EUR 614 loan from the China Eximbank to build the Tuzla 7 coal power plant in Bosnia-Herzegovina.[1] The procedure can potentially lead to delays in the EU accession process and temporary suspension of financing by EU banks.
Energy Community: Western Balkan coal subsidies worth over 1.2 billion euros in 2017
March 25, 2019
For immediate release. Energy Community countries propped up coal mining and electricity generation with direct and indirect public subsidies totalling at least 2.4 billion annually, out of which around half were provided by Western Balkan countries, shows a study (1) released today by the Vienna-based Secretariat of the Energy Community Treaty, the international treaty working to integrate the energy markets of the EU with those of its neighbours.
Romania’s dodgy math: will the country retire 2.2 GW of coal by the end of 2019?
March 13, 2019
Romania’s National Energy and Climate Plan (NECP) contains dodgy maths that seems to imply the country will retire 2.2 GW of coal by the end of 2019, according to an analysis of the document published today by Bankwatch Romania.
Coal in the Romanian National Energy and Climate Plan (NECP)
March 13, 2019
Romania was among the countries which managed to submit its draft NECP before the deadline at the end of 2018. This came at a cost – a very limited period for consultations (only ten days), a fact which was signalled by most interested stakeholders. Th
