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.
[Campaign update] EBRD still not withdrawing from damaging Ombla hydropower project, NGOs call on bank to heed new evidence
May 13, 2013
Despite having a slew of good reasons not to support the damaging Ombla hydropower plan in Croatia, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development still didn’t confirm during recent meetings that it would withdraw from the project.
Open letter: Civil society asks EBRD to withdraw from Ombla hydropower plant project
May 13, 2013
A new nature impact assessment of the proposed Ombla hydropower plant showed that the project could harm many of the 68 identified cave species, including the endemic ones. Based on these findings, civil society groups are calling on the EBRD to pull out from the project for which it has approved a EUR 123 million loan.
New EBRD Environmental and Social policy needs climate muscle and tightened safeguards for protected areas
May 10, 2013
If there is one sector in which the EBRD has been causing particular controversy in recent years, it is the energy sector. From lignite in Slovenia to hydropower in Georgia and nuclear in Ukraine, the bank has financed a series of projects that have incurred opposition from various quarters. Now that the EBRD is revising its Environmental and Social Policy it’s time to take a look at what needs to be learned from these projects.
When in hole, stop digging: lessons from the Ombla hydro project in Croatia
May 10, 2013
At the time of writing, it is highly uncertain what the future holds for the controversial 68 MW Ombla underground hydropower plant. Approved for financing by the EBRD back in 2011, only recently has a nature impact assessment study finally been published, and no final opinions have been given by either state institutions or the EBRD on whether the project is to go ahead.
Sustainability criteria for small and large hydropower plants
May 10, 2013
In recent years the EBRD has increased its funding for hydropower plants (HPPs) of all sizes. While small hydropower plants are seen by many as a far safer technology than large hydropower plants, they too can cause interruptions in river flows, loss of biodiversity and the degradation of habitats, disruptions for migrating fish and a lack of water for irrigation and drinking in downstream communities. The updated EBRD Environmental and Social Policy should include safeguards to ensure that small HPPs are truly sustainable.
Guest post: New studies fail to prove that the Ombla hydroplant is fit for EBRD financing
April 22, 2013
The EBRD’s involvement in the Ombla hydropower plant project has from the start been a story of insufficient scrutiny and cutting procedural corners, followed by an attempt to patch things up by commissioning a belated nature impact assessment. The assessment highlights the Ombla area’s natural importance and captures some of the harm that would be done by the dam, but fails to draw the right conclusions, says Jagoda Munic, President of Friends of the Earth International and Biodiversity Programme Co-ordinator at Zelena akcija/Friends of the Earth Croatia.
Comments on biodiversity management plan and ecological assessment for Ombla hydropower plant, Croatia
April 19, 2013
Croatian electricity company HEP, carried out an assessment of the planned Ombla hydropower plant’s impact on the Vilina Cave – Ombla Spring protected area. This assessment confirms that the site in question is among the most diverse such habitats in the country and that the construction of the power plant would have irreversible and long-lasting impacts on an area that set for protection as part of Croatia’s future Natura 2000 network.
That’s what they call sustainable. The EBRD’s 10 billion for sustainable energy
November 6, 2012
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development boasts of having invested 10 billion euros in sustainable energy since 2006. A closer look reveals that although the bank’s efforts deserve recognition, several investments make a mockery of ‘sustainability’.
Croatia’s Ombla HPP project comes under scrutiny after NGO complaint – EBRD
August 1, 2012
ZAGREB (Croatia), August 1 (SeeNews) – The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development said on Wednesday certain aspects of Croatia’s Ombla hydro power plant project, which EBRD is set to co-fund, are under scrutiny following a complaint from a non-governmental organisation.
