What you need to know about the Green City Action Plan but your municipality won’t tell you
January 13, 2022
A step-by-step guide on what the Green City Action Plan is, why citizen participation is important for improving the future of cities, and how residents can participate.
A Just Transition Fund for the Western Balkan countries
January 11, 2022
The EU’s Just Transition Mechanism will mobilise more than EUR 100 billion in investments over the period from 2021 to 2027 to help countries shift their energy sources from fossil fuels to more sustainable ones. Part of this Mechanism is the Just Tran
Recommendations for inclusion of the Air Quality and National Emissions Ceilings Directives in the Energy Community Treaty
December 17, 2021
This analysis examines the legal options for implementing the EU’s Air Quality and National Emissions Ceiling Directives into the Energy Community Treaty, so that air pollution from coal power plants, as well as from other power plants using fossil fue
Position Paper on the Serbia Solid Waste National Programme
December 15, 2021
This position paper, prepared by the CEE Bankwatch Network and based on research conducted by Springloop Cooperative, U.A. and Bankwatch member group CEKOR, Serbia, expresses concern about the Serbia Solid Waste National Programme, a multi-site EUR 150 million project co-financed 50:50 by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the French Development Agency. The paper discusses the various risks associated with approving the project without first ensuring that detailed social and environmental assessments are carried out, and it calls on the Bank to condition the project on guarantees that the rights and livelihoods of the most vulnerable and marginalized affected people will be protected.
Status of the Territorial Just Transition Plans in central and eastern Europe: December 2021 update
December 13, 2021
This briefing, the fifth in our series on the Territorial Just Transition Plans (TJTPs), provides an overview of the general Territorial Just Transition Plan progress in seven CEE countries: Bulgaria, Czechia, Estonia, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slov
Uzbekistan’s Anti-Crisis Fund: Analysis of state procurement in 2020
November 29, 2021
In March 2020, Uzbekistan established an Anti-Crisis Fund to help the state mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on the economy. It allocates international loans and state money to ‘finance measures to combat the spread of coronavirus infection, to support
Fact sheet on energy efficiency investment programmes in Romania
November 23, 2021
A successful transition to a decarbonised economy is carried out by prioritising investments in energy efficiency, one of the main pillars of the European Green Deal. Romania has committed to reduce its final energy consumption by 40.4 per cent and its
A letter to the EBRD on the Alexandria Refinery in Egypt and Mytilineos Gas Power Plant in Greece
November 23, 2021
This letter voices Bankwatch’s concerns about the Alexandria Refinery in Egypt and Mytilineos Gas Power Plant in Greece projects that are scheduled for Board Approval on the 24th of November 2021. We urge the Board of Directors not to support these pro
EU funds should never harm nature, climate or the environment Statement of the Green 10 on the ‘do no significant harm’ principle
November 18, 2021
This statement, written together with the Green 10 and EuroNatur, outlines our main concerns about the application of the ‘do no significant harm’ principle to EU public funds. The EU intends to expand the application of this principle to a variety of
Summary of the study ‘Analysis of Sustainable Heating Options for the City of Tuzla, Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina’
November 8, 2021
The air quality of the city of Tuzla, Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) is among the worst in the EU and Western Balkans. Because Tuzla’s coal-fired power and heat plant, Tuzla 4, must be closed by the end of 2023, and Tuzla 5 and 6 must close in the next d