Complaint to EBRD highlights negative impact of mining on Mongolian herders
July 4, 2013
Ulaanbaatar, 04 July 2013. A group of Mongolian herders submitted today an official complaint to the Project Complaints Mechanism of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), hoping to initiate a process of evaluation of the adverse impacts on their health and livelihoods of two mining projects financed by the international public lender.
EU budget: green jobs to be found amidst disappointing deal
July 3, 2013
Brussels, July 3, 2013 – Following today’s approval by the European Parliament of Europe’s €960 billion budget for 2014-2020, Bankwatch and Friends of the Earth Europe are calling on individual member states to make the most of a disappointing deal by respecting green spending commitments – thereby boosting green jobs and truly sustainable investments.
New EIB Energy Policy: A Missed Opportunity
June 25, 2013
Brussels — The EU’s global leadership on climate change is set to take another blow if the European Investment Bank, the EU house bank and one of the world’s largest public lenders, adopts a future energy lending policy as presented yesterday to the public. The draft policy includes weaker standards for lending to coal plants than currently proposed in both the US and Canada.
Development banks energy investments jeopardise the ability of Balkan accession countries to meet EU energy and climate targets, says new report
June 25, 2013
Brussels, Belgium – Heavy investments in fossil fuels by international financial institutions (IFIs) in the Western Balkans are hindering these countries’ compliance with EU accession requirements, finds a new report – “Invest in Haste, Repent at Leisure” – from civil society organizations CEE Bankwatch Network, SEE Change Net and WWF, created as part of the SEE SEP (South East Europe Sustainable Energy Policy) programme.
Russian and European NGO investigations lead to the filing of a complaint against VINCI CONCESSIONS RUSSIE SA and against unknown persons before the Nanterre Public Prosecutor
June 24, 2013
Paris, 24 June 2013 – Sherpa, Russie-Libertés, CEE Bankwatch Network and MOBO Princip, as well as members of Russian civil society such as the environmental activist Evgenia Chirikova, today submitted to the Public Prosecutor of Nanterre, France, a complaint relating to the conditions in which the NORTH WEST CONCESSION COMPANY – NWCC – , which is wholly owned by the French company VINCI CONCESSIONS RUSSIE, was awarded a public contract in 2009 concerning the construction of the highway between Moscow and Saint Petersburg.
Eleventh hour for Europe’s bank to lead on climate change
June 20, 2013
Brussels — Ahead of next week’s expected release from the European Investment Bank of its final draft energy policy, CEE Bankwatch Network and Counter Balance are urging the EU’s house bank to ensure that its annual portfolio of EUR 70 billion is guided by a policy that enables Europe to meet its long-term commitments on climate.
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.
