EBRD maintaining relations with Turkmenistan regime
May 14, 2012
Following the EBRD’s controvesial adoption in 2010 of a ‘calibrated strategic approach’ to guide its activities in the totalitarian state of Turkmenistan, annual discussions between the bank and civil society organisations have been taking place, with the most recent last month.
Europe’s energy games are not child’s play
April 23, 2012
A new campaign video illustrates Europe’s self-absorbed approach to its energy policy outside Europe. (A blog entry Cross-posted from the Counter Balance blog.)
Energy Security For Whom? For What?
February 16, 2012
How can fossil fuels and uranium be kept in the ground and agrofuels off the land in ways that do not inflict suffering upon millions? Mainstream policy responses to these issues are largely framed in terms of “energy security”. Yet far from making energy supplies more secure, such policies are triggering a cascade of new insecurities for millions of people.
Tragedy or comedy, what is the Nabucco pipeline really?
January 19, 2012
The announcement of German energy giant RWE to reconsider its plans for the Nabucco pipeline is just the last in a series of confusingly conflicting signals regarding the fate of this gargantuan project.
Contemplating secure and insecure energy supply
September 7, 2011
The EU external energy policy Communication published today by the European Commission continues the decade-long approach of the EU to ensure the unhindered flow of fossil fuel energy supplies to Europe without a real recognition of the problems this drive creates both inside and outside of the EU.
Nabucco and the Arab Spring
May 15, 2011
The democratic revolutions in North Africa and the Middle East have not quite spread it to the authoritarian regimes of Central Asia. Nevertheless nervous reactions among leaders in these countries have proven another weakness of the proposed Nabucco pipeline project, in that the stable gas supplies promised by the project under the capacious term “energy security” are much less “secure” than previously expected.
Nabucco gas pipeline
February 18, 2011
The Nabucco pipeline project is based on the idea to bring Caspian or Middle Eastern gas through Turkey to the EU. Its planned route is 3300 kilometres long with an estimated construction cost of almost EUR 8 billion.
Civil society letter to IFC requesting to include lessons learned from the Chad-Cameroon and BTC pipeline projects in the assessment process of the Nabucco pipeline project
January 20, 2011
The International Finance Corporation (IFC) is considering financing the Nabucco gas pipeline project. Should the IFC decide to finance the project, it risks repeating the serious economic, environmental, social and human rights mistakes associated with the Baku Tbilisi Ceyhan (BTC) and Chad-Cameroon pipeline projects and involving the World Bank Group in another highly problematic, politicized and economically and environmentally unsustainable project.
Rotten perceptions, grim reality Turkmenistan off the agenda in European Parliament, Nabucco still nowhere near fit for purpose
October 26, 2010
Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index, launched today, confirms Turkmenistan’s position as one of the world’s least democratic regimes. Promoters of the Nabucco gas pipeline project have opted to adopt a surprisingly tolerant approach to Turkmenistan’s endemic failings.
Nabucco and Turkmenistan – Our energy security, Turkmens’ misery
September 10, 2010
This paper examines the less obvious aspects of the Nabucco gas pipeline project – its possible impact on Turkmenistan, a country notorious for its grave human rights situation and the dictatorial tendencies of its political leaders. It also discusses how, with a lack of public oversight over gas revenues in Turkmenistan, the construction of Nabucco may lead to the strengthening of one of the most brutal regimes currently in existence.
