While the EBRD shows off its green credentials at COP29, its North Macedonia gas pipeline loan still brings more questions than answers
November 19, 2024
The EBRD has made significant investments in solar, wind and energy efficiency in recent years. But these have been undermined by its continued support for fossil fuels. This April, a EUR 98 million loan for the Greece to North Macedonia pipeline was approved, despite major leaks in the Bank’s rationale for supporting it. Recent delays have further exposed the flawed assumptions behind the project, as our new briefing shows.
Greece – North Macedonia gas interconnector update
November 19, 2024
This briefing takes an updated look at the Greece – North Macedonia gas interconnector project and concludes that the arguments in favour of the project are still not supported by convincing evidence and that the claimed benefits are highly unlikely to materialise.
Romania’s gas-fuelled climate plan lacks green ambition
November 7, 2024
After missing the legal deadline of 30 June 2024 by four months, Romania has finally submitted its national energy and climate plan (NECP) to the European Commission. However, despite the delay, several critical issues remain unresolved from the draft plan submitted in December 2023.
Western Balkan cities: Pressure with no release
October 24, 2024
Using case studies from Belgrade, Sarajevo and Skopje, our report examines urban planning practices, the consequences of poor governance, and the need for sustainable infrastructure investment.
EU funds: Protecting or damaging nature? How to avoid harmful projects
October 21, 2024
The following recommendations how to prevent projects that damage nature from being financed in the future are based on the case studies from Croatia, Hungary, Latvia, Poland and Slovenia.
Western Balkans: Civil society groups call on European Commission to strengthen support for just transition
October 4, 2024
A group of civil society organisations, including CEE Bankwatch Network, are calling on the European Commission and other actors to step up support for a just transition in coal-dependent communities in the Western Balkans.
Western Balkans: NGOs launch proposals to revive EU’s flagging Green Agenda
October 1, 2024
A group of 18 civil society organisations has today submitted proposals (1) to overhaul the EU’s Green Agenda for the Western Balkans, in advance of an official update scheduled later this year. They aim to increase the initiative’s focus, transparency and results and ensure more effective use of EU funds for environmental protection.
How to advance a just transition in the Western Balkans: Recommendations for the EU and national institutions
September 27, 2024
This briefing takes stock of the current situation with the decarbonisation of the Western Balkans’s economy and summarises the progress on just transition in each country.
European Parliament fails to halt disastrous hydropower project jeopardising local livelihoods and endangered species
September 27, 2024
WWF and CEE Bankwatch Network question the EU Commission’s reasons for putting this decades-old project on the Danube river on its priority investment list.
Turnu Măgurele – Nikopol Hydraulic Structures Assembly on the Danube river, Romania and Bulgaria
September 20, 2024
The project, if built, would not only devastate critical habitats, leading to the potential extinction of species such as the Danube sturgeons, but also displace local communities, disrupt existing investments, and violate several EU environmental directives.
