The European Investment Bank and climate action 2013-2015
May 23, 2016
The European Investment Bank’s lending for climate action between 2013 and 2015 shows that further structural changes are needed to align the bank’s portfolio with the objectives of the Paris agreement.
Ohrid – Peshtani expressway project, Macedonia
May 11, 2016
The Ohrid-Peshtani expressway project – financed by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development via a EUR 160 million loan for the National Roads Programme – involves the construction of a new section on the A3 express to the Albanian border. The new 12.5 kilometre section is planned to pass through the Galicica national park – a rare and important natural site with abundant biodiversity, that was listed as an emerald site (a future Natura 2000 site) and was designated in 2014 part of UNESCO’s World Network of Biosphere Reserves.
The problems with industrial chicken producer MHP’s expansion in Ukraine
May 11, 2016
MHP is at the centre of concern for local communities and civil society organisations in Ukraine, because of the way the company engages stakeholders, acquires land, and impacts the environment, water and the local economic development. Since 2010 the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has approved three loans for MHP, totalling USD 205 million. Whether or not the company is in compliance with Ukrainian law, local people think they are not adequately protected and do not have an equal voice against a large corporation if it decides to begin construction.
Georgia swept by protests against EBRD-backed hydropower
May 11, 2016
Protests have in recent weeks broken out across rural Georgia after construction resumed on several large hydropower projects financed by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). Demonstrators have complained that the projects were repeatedly decided behind closed doors, and that poor assessments of the social and environmental consequences mean their livelihoods are under threat.
Update on resettlements at Kolubara mine and other EPS operations
May 11, 2016
In October 2015 the independent Project Complaint Mechanism (PCM) of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development found that the bank breached its environmental and social policy with regards to safeguarding the rights of communities impacted by mining operations of the Serbian state energy company EPS.
Balkan energy projects with Chinese involvement – state of play, May 2016
May 5, 2016
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Briefing: Nenskra hydropower plant, Georgia
April 29, 2016
This briefing was prepared and presented during the annual meetings of the Asian Development Bank on 2 May 2016 in Frankfurt.
Briefing on Nenskra hydropower plant for the Asian Development Bank
April 28, 2016
Fossil fuel subsidies from Europe’s carbon market
April 27, 2016
The so called Article 10c of the EU ETS Directive allows lower-income Member States from central and eastern Europe to give allowances for free to electricity installations under the condition that they invest at least the equivalent monetary value of the free allowances in the modernisation and diversification of their energy systems. This briefing contains a detailed review of the experience so far and offers recommendations for the post 2020-period.
ETS Modernisation Fund – catalysing the clean energy transformation in central and eastern Europe
April 11, 2016
Within the framework of the EU’s 2030 climate and energy policies, the Modernisation Fund aims to support lower-income Member States in meeting their investment needs related to energy efficiency, including financing small-scale investments projects and the modernisation of energy systems. Based on experience with funding mechanisms at the European Investment Bank, the European Commission and the EU budget, this briefing recommends several structural elements for the establishment of the Fund.
