Media brief: Silver lining in the Energy Community Treaty
February 6, 2014
Currently, a High Level Reflection Group is evaluating the institutional set-up and working methods of the Energy Community and will report this June with suggested improvements to the Ministerial Council. Yet the composition of this group and the informal reports from its first meeting suggest that the environment is in danger of being neglected once again in the updated Treaty.
Ukraine and the EBRD: More than technicalities derail the fight against corruption
February 6, 2014
Before claiming the moral high ground on fighting corruption in Ukraine, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development should first of all brush up its own transparency policy and drop old-fashioned arguments in favour of confidentiality and secret conditionalities in its projects.
Bankwatch input to the consultation on the Energy Community Treaty
February 5, 2014
Letter to EBRD: Complaint filed with IFC on Danosha pig farms in Ukraine
February 5, 2014
Local communities in the Ivano-Frankvisk region in Ukraine have filed a complaint with the IFC’s complaint mechanism regarding the conduct of agribusiness corporation Danosha. This letter summarises the complaint’s content and asks the EBRD to follow the complaint process and derive lessons for its own support of industrial farming projects in Ukraine.
Trains, planes and citizens’ mobility – Axeing of Polish airport plan brings calls for improved train connections via EU funds
January 22, 2014
As countries around Europe strive in the first weeks of the year to conclude spending plans that will guide how they deploy billions of EU funds for the 2014-2020 budgetary period, last week saw a welcome move in Poland with the shelving of a controversial airport proposal that had been in line for EU support.
EBRD set to backtrack on environmental and social safeguards
January 22, 2014
A draft released yesterday of the Environmental and Social Policy of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development shows that, instead of strengthening the policy to provide for better implementation, the bank opens several loopholes which ensure that approval of financing is achievable for problematic projects.
Missing sustainability: The EBRD’s controversial energy lending in Ukraine (2006-2013)
December 20, 2013
While the EBRD’s founding document require it to “promote in the full range of its activities environmentally sound and sustainable development” more than half of the bank’s energy investments in Ukraine for the period 2006-2013 hardly served the purpose of sustainable development promotion. In this period the EBRD has supported nuclear energy production and new output capacities for nuclear power plants, export-oriented infrastructure, as well as controversial initiatives in the renewable energy sector.
Sounding out the EBRD’s energy strategy: little ambition besides scrapping coal
December 13, 2013
At a closer look the EBRD’s new energy strategy, complimented for the restrictions it places on coal lending, reveals a shocking lack of operational knowledge to implement the ambitions outlined in its executive summary.
Get your EU funds house in order – Hungarian group takes climate and jobs appeal direct to government’s doorstep
December 6, 2013
With only a few weeks to go now until final crucial decisions are taken that will determine Hungary’s EU spending plans for the next seven years, Bankwatch’s Hungarian member group MTVSZ decided last week that it was about time the Hungarian government got its house in order when it comes to beneficial EU allocations for cutting domestic energy bills, stimulating the Hungarian economy and fighting climate change.
Ukrainian nuclear sector in defiance and in financial trouble
December 4, 2013
On November 28, the state nuclear regulator of Ukraine (SNRIU) allowed the continued operation of unit 1 of the South Ukrainian nuclear power plant (SUNPP-1) until December 2, 2023 – 10 years beyond its technically designed lifetime. The decision not only constitutes a breach of national regulation, but also disregards an unresolved case of non-compliance with the UN Espoo Convention. All this while Energoatom is in an increasingly tight financial situation.
