European Fund for Strategic Investments: How to ensure sustainability, good governance and added-value
January 31, 2016
The European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI) aims to leverage through the European Investment Bank (EIB) financing for a total of EUR 315 billion in new projects by 2018. The guarantee fund should target projects with a higher risk profile than normal EIB investments and should as well increase lending for investments which significantly contribute to achieving European common policy objectives (“European added-value”). This briefing outlines necessary improvements in the EFSI implementation to realise these aims.
NGO open letter to EIB president: don’t finance the Southern Gas Corridor
January 28, 2016
In this letter, a group of 27 non-governmental organisations urge the President of the European Investment Bank not to finance the Southern Gas Corridor, a 3500 kilometres-long chain of gas pipelines from Azerbaijan to Europe. As the EIB considers granting the biggest loan of its history to the Consortium in charge of developing the western section of the project, the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP), the group of NGOs warns about its most controversial aspects.
Glass Half Full? The state of accountability in development finance
January 27, 2016
Real development respects human rights and is shaped by the people it is designed to benefit. However, development projects financed by development finance institutions in many cases has been associated with the dispossession of land, loss of resources, diminished livelihoods and environmental degradation. Accountability mechanisms in theory aim to ensure that people who have been harmed by these projects receive adequate remedy. As this report shows, however, these accountability mechanisms to a large extent fail to fulfil this function, not least because they operate in a constrained environment constructed by the institutions that administer them.
Climate’s enfants terribles. How new Member States’ misguided use of EU funds is holding back Europe’s clean energy transition
January 26, 2016
This report published by Bankwatch and Friends of the Earth Europe shows how bad spending plans and a lack of climate commitments from nine central and eastern European governments is hampering Europe’s transition away from fossil fuels. The research reveals that in CEE countries only 7 per cent of the 178 billion euros in European Regional Development and Cohesion Funds will be invested into renewables, energy efficiency and smart grids, and that the integration of climate considerations into all plans and projects – as required under EU law – remains superficial.
Second confirmatory application for disclosure of EIB documents related to Volkswagen loans
January 25, 2016
Following the revelations around Volkswagen cheating emission tests, Bankwatch requested information from the European Investment Bank about its loans to the car maker. After delays, incomplete disclosure, and a frist confirmatory application, the bank released on December 18, 2015 redacted finance contracts between the EIB and VW as well as redacted completion reports provided by VW to the EIB at the closure of each project. (See all documents here.)
Ukraine Nuclear Safety Upgrade Programme: loan conditions not met
January 21, 2016
The Ukrainian government continues to disregard the legal conditions attached to the financial support it receives from the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and Euratom for its nuclear safety upgrade program.
Lynxed in: EBRD still can’t say no to destructive Macedonian dam
December 17, 2015
The latest blow to the highly controversial 68 megawatt Boškov Most hydropower plant, that has attracted EUR 65 million in financing from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), was dealt in early December by the Standing Committee of the Bern Convention, the European wildlife treaty.
Nuclear plant shenanigans intensify in Ukraine
December 17, 2015
An ageing nuclear unit in the South Ukraine power plant has become the latest to have its expiry date rewritten by Ukrainian authorities, despite a number of pending safety issues and concerns over compliance with international treaties.
Reckless dam financing rampant in the Balkans
December 17, 2015
A new Bankwatch report has found that loans totalling EUR 818 million from international public ‘development’ banks have supported 75 hydropower projects in the Balkans, including 30 which directly affect protected areas such as national parks, Natura 2000 sites and Ramsar sites.
New Beijing-backed Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank struggles to convince on environment and sustainability issues
December 17, 2015
The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), the China-led financial institution, has emerged as a multilateral development bank with the backing of 57 members in record time. Jin Liqun, president designate of the new financial institution set up to provide financing for infrastructure projects in south east Asia and countries along the Silk Road route in South Asia, Central Asia, the Caucasus and the periphery of Europe, has declared that the AIIB will be a ‘lean, clean, and green’ institution which upholds the highest standards of 21st century governance. Early doubts, though, hang over these aspirations.