Kolubara mining waste causes landslide, wrecks homes in Serbia
June 6, 2013
Belgrade — A landslide caused by mining operations at Kolubara lignite mines in Serbia is advancing towards the village Junkovac in the Serbian Lazarevac municipality, threatening to engulf parts of it; two houses and a road have been destroyed already, and tens of other homes are at risk.
Victory for civil society as EBRD cancels loan for controversial Croatian dam
May 28, 2013
Zagreb, May 28 – Croatian electricity company HEP and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) have cancelled a EUR 123 million loan contract for the controversial Ombla underground hydropower plant near Dubrovnik, HEP has announced yesterday. The EBRD financing would have covered the biggest bulk of the EUR 152.4 million estimated to be needed for construction.
Groups oppose European bank’s plan to finance oil drilling in Egypt
May 27, 2013
On Wednesday 29 May the European Bank for Reconstruction & Development (EBRD) will vote on whether to make a $40 million loan to Kuwait Energy to drill and extract oil in Egypt. Egyptian and international organisations are pushing the board of the public multilateral bank to reject the loan – or at least postpone its decision.
The European Investment Bank’s energy lending: stuck in the past or facing the future?
May 23, 2013
The European Investment Bank, the house bank of the European Union, which directs a fifth of its annual lending portfolio of 60 to 70 billion euros to energy projects, is currently reviewing the policy document that guides its lending to the power sector. On this occasion, Bankwatch is publishing a poster of positive and negative examples of the bank’s lending to energy projects.
Regional funding negotiations – Green groups warn against last minute reintroduction of fossil fuel subsidies
May 16, 2013
With the final negotiations aimed at sealing agreement on the EU budget for 2014-20 now underway, environment NGOs are warning that a last minute amendment aimed at permitting EU subsidies for fossil fuels that are devastating for the climate must be rejected by negotiators of the future EU Cohesion Policy’s regional development funds.
No end in sight for EBRD coal finance
May 10, 2013
Istanbul – With the 2013 EBRD annual meetings underway and in spite of repeated commitments to sustainability, the bank is set to continue financing coal projects that will dangerously aggravate climate change.
Ukraine’s Nukes Are in Breach of UN Convention
April 22, 2013
Kiev – Ukraine’s expansion of the lifetime of its old nuclear reactors is in breach of the UN Espoo Convention, ruled the body monitoring the implementation of this international agreement, because Kiev went ahead with the prolongation of the use of its old reactors without assessing the impact this may have on neighbouring countries.
European Parliament wants green energy, not coal, as part of Kosovo integration
April 19, 2013
The European Parliament yesterday blasted the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) for considering financing of the planned USD 2 billion Kosova e Re lignite power plant near Pristina.
New report: Funding sustainable development in European regions – recommendations for the programming of EU funds in 10 CEE Countries
April 4, 2013
Today, CEE Bankwatch Network is launching a compilation of position papers which describe in detail how environmental NGOs across Central and Eastern Europe see the contribution of the next EU Budget (post 2014) to overcoming Europe’s high energy and material consumption and to protecting our nature.
New CEE Bankwatch Network Study: “No Time to Waste: Cohesion Funds programming for a resource-efficient Europe”
March 27, 2013
Find the study here >> The EU Resource Efficiency Flagship Initiative, the strategic framework setting out how the waste sector should look like in Europe by 2020, envisages that by the end of this decade waste in Europe will be managed as a resource we have to care for, hence landfilling has to be eliminated, incineration limited to non recyclable materials, and recycling turned into a truly economically viable option.
