Publications

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and German development Bank KfW are considering supporting the development of a new field in the lignite open pit mine in the Kolubara mining complex in Serbia. Interestingly, the investment is categorised as “Environmenta…

Bankwatch and the Movement to Defend Khimki Forest wrote to the Global Compact on 28th March 2011 regarding Vinci’s non-compliance with its Global Compact Commitments in relation to the first section of the Moscow – St. Petersburg motorway project. Our letter subsequently fo…

The revised Public Information Policy (PIP) of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) adopts only few of the NGOs’ proposals submitted during the first stage of commenting, therefore missing the opportunity to improve the draft. We insist that the detail…

The current draft of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development’s public information policy lacks several provisions and innovations which should be considered the latest best practice in information disclosure in multilateral development banks.

As the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development celebrates twenty years of market and democracy promotion in central and eastern Europe, Bankwatch evaluates the institution’s activities since its inception and concludes the bank needs to move swiftly and genuinely to…

On the occasion of the EBRD’s 20th anniversary, Bankwatch Mail is complemented by a range of personal reflections from people both within and beyond central and eastern Europe, people who have worked directly on issues related to the EBRD, or who have studied the bank’s impa…

The oil and gas-fired thermo-power plant in Vlora, Albania – in a tourism-dependent city and only 100 metres from the protected Narta lagoon – was financed by the EBRD, the European Investment Bank and the World Bank. After a slew of problems, including lack of proper public…

The EBRD is and has been involved in a number of high voltage electricity transmission lines in Ukraine that eventually would lay the technical groundwork to export nuclear and coal-based electricity to the EU. In the Ukrainian electricity transmission field, the EBRD should…

In November 2010 the EBRD, together with the European Union, announced its involvement in the EUR 1.2 billion Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) safety upgrade project for Ukraine. While safety upgrades at first appear a positive initiative, this project makes sense only in the conte…

In 2010, the EBRD approved a EUR 100 million loan for the Sostanj lignite power plant unit 6 (TES 6) project with a further EUR 100 million syndicated to commercial banks. A recent report on the management of the project has important implications for the EBRD’s involvement…

The Polish energy market is dominated by coal, but two thirds of the installed coal capacity is older than 30 years. The EBRD could play a crucial role in the restructuring of this market by providing financial assistance to energy efficiency projects and renewable energy an…

The Turkish company Georgian Urban Energy (GUE) has requested a USD 44 million EBRD loan for the Paravani HPP, an 87 MW plant using a 14 km derivation tunnel in order to divert water from the Paravani river to the Mtkvari river. Bankwatch member group Green Alternative has d…