Polish shale gas – a watery grave looms, but for who?
May 14, 2014
Tomasz Zdrojewski explains the risks to Polish water from the massively hyped fossil fuel bonanza.
Tapping central and eastern Europe’s green potential 25 years on
May 14, 2014
Environmental writer Roger Manser explains how the warnings of his 1993 book were ignored, and why ambitious green financing action is still a big need in central and eastern Europe.
Stuck in the market? 25 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall: what now for the EBRD?
May 14, 2014
Harsh, embedded economic realities such as widespread, high unemployment across central and eastern Europe, as well as the discernible trend of democratic retrenchment in several EBRD recipient countries, are resulting in very mixed feelings about the transition process in this year of important anniversaries. This new analysis of how the EBRD conducts its financing and economic advisory activities finds serious deficiencies in the bank’s overall ‘market-oriented’ approach and catalogues a range of startling EBRD interventions.
Bankwatch Mail 59
May 13, 2014
Coinciding with the annual meeting of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, this issue examines how some of the EBRD’s transition recipes turned out almost 25 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall. In addition, controversies with current projects and recent policy revisions provide a rather grim outlook for what further transition will bring for old and new countries of operation of the EBRD.
The village of Junkovac near the Kolubara mine – neglected and destroyed
May 9, 2014
The story of Junkovac in Serbia highlights systemic violations of human rights, neglect and wrong doings in the lignite mining sector that have not changed since the involvement of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development began in 2000. One of most recent cases of violations of human and property rights involves the illegal dumping of overburden from the mines at the Junkovac site that for years has been a threat to the properties and lives of hundreds of people in the nearby village.
Does European financing facilitate the implementation of the Espoo convention in nuclear-energy related activities? Experience from Ukraine.
May 9, 2014
Public finance can play a role in ensuring nuclear safety and the transparency and accountability of government decisions related to nuclear energy by encouraging governments to fully apply Espoo procedures at earlier stages of the programme or plan and to provide more information about loan conditionalities. However, only a limited positive effect has been seen in Ukraine due in part to a lack of transparency by the financial institutions and to the selective application of convention requirements.
More for pigs than people: experience with Danosha’s expansion in Ukraine
May 7, 2014
In 2013 the EBRD approved a loan of EUR 35 million to Danosha, a Ukrainian industrial pig farming company. Categorised as ‘B’ by the bank, the project didn’t require an Environmental Impact Assessment or public participation. Yet experience shows that Danosha’s activities are associated with adverse environmental and social impacts, and the situation has been worsened by the fact that the company does not publish any information about its impacts on the environment, public health and safety at its farms.
The hydropower plant Boskov Most, Macedonia
May 6, 2014
In November 2011 the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development approved a EUR 65 million credit to ELEM, a Macedonian state-owned company for the construction and management of the hydro power plant “Boskov Most”. Around 80% of the project falls into the territory of the “Mavrovo” National Park.
Legal opinion on the possible financing scheme of Plomin C and its compatibility with EU rules on state aid and public procurement (public summary)
May 5, 2014
This legal analysis argues that the tender arrangement for the Plomin C coal-fired power plant seriously questions the feasibility of the entire investment, not just from an environmental point of view as demonstrated by Zelena Akcija beforehand, but by now also from a competition point of view.
The Shuakhevi hydropower plant project, Georgia
May 2, 2014
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development has approved a loan of up to USD 86.5 million for Adjaristsqali Georgia LLC (AGL), a subsidiary of the Norwegian Clean Energy Invest for the construction of the 185 MW Shuakhevi hydropower plant (HPP). The project involves the construction of two dams and three diversion tunnels. Bankwatch member group Green Alternative has concerns about the possible negative impacts of the Shuakhevi HPP and the overall justification for the project, both explained in this briefing.
