New opportunities for eastern Europe if the EU’s bank ramps up climate ambition and quits fossil fuels
June 13, 2019
Ahead of the European Investment Bank’s annual governors’ meeting, several EU’s finance ministers put forward a joint non-paper “Climate for the future of Europe” with an idea to transform the EIB: make green financing its top priority and promote investments in energy and climate transition. The right initiative risks failing if not supported by the majority of the bank’s shareholders, in particular by the eastern states that wrongfully fear that EIB’s increasing ambition in climate finance will unfavorably impact the bank’s presence in their countries.
Slovak aspects of the EIB Energy Lending Policy
March 31, 2019
One of the biggest challenges in Slovakia is to ensure systematic support for the development of decentralised, non-fossil and sustainable energy system. The European Investment Bank (EIB) already invested far too much into fossil gas (77 per cent of a
When the EU’s bank can’t kick the fossil fuels habit
March 27, 2019
As the European Investment Bank (EIB) is nowadays preparing a new Energy Lending Policy to guide its investment in energy projects, it seems the world’s largest public lender is not willing to acknowledge its contribution to climate change, the biggest crisis currently facing humanity.
Changing lives and doing no harm
February 8, 2019
“We invest in changing lives” is the slogan of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, whose investments in 2018 reached EUR 9.5 billion through 395 projects. Whether the change is for better depends on the bank’s environmental and human rights safeguards.
The EU’s bank downplayed climate risk in granting record loans to Europe’s largest fossil fuel project
February 7, 2019
Brussels – In a complaint lodged today with the European Investment Bank (EIB), civil society groups protest that the bank systematically underestimated the climate footprint of a fossil fuel mega project, the Southern Gas Corridor, which helped justify providing it with major financial support using EU public money.
Failure of the European Investment Bank to ensure proper climate impact assessment for TAP/TANAP
February 4, 2019
In a complaint lodged today with the European Investment Bank (EIB), civil society groups protest that the bank systematically underestimated the climate footprint of a fossil fuel mega project, the Southern Gas Corridor, which helped justify providing
If the EBRD does not lead the energy transition, we will have to do it ourselves
December 18, 2018
In the middle of last week, negotiators in this year’s UN climate summit in Katowice, Poland, were scrambling to agree on guidelines for the Paris Agreement that would ensure global warming is capped at no more than 2 degrees. At the same time, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), one of the world’s key development banks, adopted a new energy lending strategy that ends its support for coal but keeps the door wide open for gas. Ioana Ciuta of CEE Bankwatch Network takes a closer look.
State of play with the energy transformation in Romania
December 13, 2018
Europe’s commitment to the Paris Agreement and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development means that the EU must drive an energy transformation, but in Romania, inadequate financial support and a lack of political will still stand in the way of progress.
Proteste gegen Transadriatische Pipeline: Griechische Bauern gegen Erdgas
December 11, 2018
Ganz Europa will diese Pipeline. Wirklich ganz Europa? Wie 70 griechische Bauern gegen die Energiepolitik der EU rebellieren. Source: Proteste gegen Transadriatische Pipeline: Griechische Bauern gegen Erdgas
As human rights declaration turns 70, development banks have a ways to go to respect and protect rights defenders
December 10, 2018
Today 10 December marks the seventieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. To coincide with this milestone, Bankwatch together with more than 200 organisations globally has called on international financiers [1] to ensure that these institutions support the realisation of human rights, avoid causing or contributing to rights abuses, promote an enabling environment for public participation, and safeguard rights defenders.
