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Assessment of the Estonian operational programme

Assessment | 2 March, 2022 | Download PDF

This briefing offers an analysis of the Estonian operational programme and recommendations regarding the potential for increasing the programme’s climate contribution.


Update to the Bern Convention on the Complaint No. 2016/09 – Possible threat by hydropower to “Svaneti 1” Candidate Emerald Site

Official document | 22 February, 2022 | Download PDF

The Svaneti 1 Candidate Emerald site in Georgia is threatened by the decision of the Georgian government to reduce its size for construction of the 280 MW Nenskra Hydro Power Plant (HPP) project. This is an update by the complainants on the Complaint No. 2016/9 – Possible threat to “Svaneti 1” Candidate Emerald Site who request an on-the-spot appraisal mission by the Bern Convention to Georgia, in order to investigate the threats to rivers that were recorded by Bankwatch during its fact-finding mission in July 2021.


Open letter to the EBRD and JP Autoceste about the legality of the project-level Spatial Plan of 2017 for the Corridor Vc in the Hercegovina-Neretva Canton

Open letter | 21 February, 2022 | Download PDF

The letter requests that the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development not sign the loan agreement for the Corridor Vc motorway subsections Mostar North – Mostar South until additional biodiversity baseline studies for the subsection tunnel Kvanj – Buna and alternative route assessments are completed. The letter also presents the conclusions of the discrimination complaint filed by war returnees, as well as the ramifications for the Bank’s rules on vulnerable groups. It asserts that signing the loan for the subsection Mostar North and South should be delayed until additional biodiversity studies and careful consideration of route alternatives are completed, particularly since the Bank’s independent accountability mechanism is about to finalize its recommendations to management in the first half of 2022.


Cutting hydropower subsidies – how are the Western Balkans doing?

Briefing | 15 February, 2022 | Download PDF

The small hydropower boom, which has damaged pristine rivers and streams across the Western Balkans, has largely been fuelled by generous feed-in tariffs. In this briefing, we take a look at recent progress towards changing the rules on renewables support in the region.


Implementation of the Air Quality Directive by Western Balkan countries – 2022 update

Briefing | 14 February, 2022 | Download PDF

This briefing reviews the progress of five Western Balkan countries (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia) on the transposition and implementation of the EU’s Air Quality Directive