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Western Balkans countries invest at least 2.4 times as much in coal as in wind power

Briefing | 26 May, 2016 | Download PDF

All the Western Balkans countries have committed to increase their share of renewable energy by 2020 to reach between 25 and 40 percent of their energy mix, as part of their obligations under the Energy Community Treaty. Yet this is far from obvious when examining their investment plans for new power generation capacity. Governments are actively planning to build 2800 MW of new coal plants with construction cost of at least EUR 4.5 billion. In contrast, these countries are only planning to build around 1166 MW of wind power plants, at an estimated cost of EUR 1.89 billion.


The European Investment Bank and climate action 2013-2015

Briefing | 23 May, 2016 | Download PDF

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

Briefing | 11 May, 2016 | Download PDF

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

Briefing | 11 May, 2016 | Download PDF

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

Briefing | 11 May, 2016 | Download PDF

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.