UPDATED: New documents on European Investment Bank loans to Volkswagen
January 18, 2016
Documents obtained by Bankwatch provide more details for a European Investment Bank statement that its loans to Volkswagen may have been connected to the car makers use of cheating devices to rig emission tests.
Romania and the Energy Union: little more than wishful thinking
January 14, 2016
When Maroš Šefčovič, the Commission’s Vice President for the Energy Union visited Bucharest in October 2015 to discuss Romania’s role in the overhaul of Europe’s energy sector, his speech seemed promising at first. It focused on renewables, energy efficiency and research and innovation – all issues that are rarely on the Romanian public agenda. But eventually, much like the Commission’s assessment for Romania (pdf) that was presented during the visit, the message and its level of ambition felt more like much ado about nothing.
Success: 391 hectares of Romanian forest saved in 2015
January 11, 2016
With one more positive court decision just before the end of the year, Bankwatch Romania had a lot to celebrate in 2015.
New Beijing-backed Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank struggles to convince on environment and sustainability issues
December 17, 2015
The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), the China-led financial institution, has emerged as a multilateral development bank with the backing of 57 members in record time. Jin Liqun, president designate of the new financial institution set up to provide financing for infrastructure projects in south east Asia and countries along the Silk Road route in South Asia, Central Asia, the Caucasus and the periphery of Europe, has declared that the AIIB will be a ‘lean, clean, and green’ institution which upholds the highest standards of 21st century governance. Early doubts, though, hang over these aspirations.
9 reasons why the EU’s bank is no climate leader
December 17, 2015
In the run-up to, during and now, with a global deal reached, after the Paris climate summit, the world’s largest public lender, the European Investment Bank (EIB), is positioning itself as a climate pioneer. But is the bank really fit for this role? Can the EIB make a break from its history of financing fossil fuels and polluting forms of transportation after decades of cosy relations with the biggest culprits?
Public development banks failing 2 degree test, heavy fossil fuel financing persists
December 17, 2015
The MDB Climate Change Scorecard, published by Bank Information Center and Sierra Club during COP21, highlights how none of the world’s biggest multi-lateral development banks is on track to help keep the world below 2 degrees warming, and reveals how the seven banks in question – including the World Bank, the EIB and the EBRD – are continuing to support fossil fuel projects in developing countries.
“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.
Polish authorities on collision course with EU institutions over S7 expressway
December 17, 2015
A barely eight kilometre long section of an express road in central Poland is becoming another battlefield in the long-running conflict between Polish road authorities on one side and European biodiversity protection laws, and environmental NGOs trying to uphold them, on the other. Except this time, it’s not just about the law – it’s also about the money.
At the start of spending: Environmental partners still ostracised
December 15, 2015
An assessment of the application of the “European Code of Conduct on Partnership” during the establishment of the national implementation bodies and the first phase of ESI Funds implementation in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Latvia, Poland and Slovakia.
Infographics: Pristine Balkan rivers threatened by European “green energy” funding for hydropower
December 14, 2015
A wave of hydropower development fuelled by European public funding and EU companies is endangering pristine river environments in the Balkans.
