Climate change: time for the Energy Community to take action
March 10, 2015
This report, commissioned by CEE Bankwatch Network and carried out by think-tank Change Partnership finds that countries of the Energy Community risk wasting hundreds of millions of Euros on outdated energy infrastructure if they do not adopt policies to tackle climate change.
NGOs demand transparency in negotiations over Plomin C coal project in Croatia
March 5, 2015
Croatian electricity company HEP on Monday announced that it had signed an exclusivity agreement to conduct further negotiations with Japan’s Marubeni – a company which has been implicated in several corruption scandals.
EBRD must not back Egyptian coal imports
February 24, 2015
Cairo — Ahead of tomorrow’s Board vote on the EBRD loan to CEMEX Egypt, a number of civil society organisations [*], inlcuding Egyptian groups, urge the bank to reject this project not only because it involves support for dirty coal-based production but also because it actually means promoting the plans of a repressive government despite opposition from civil society.
European banks: it’s time to quit coal in Ukraine
February 13, 2015
In a street action being held today in Kiev as part of the Global Divestment Day, Ukrainians call on public and private investors to end financing for fossil fuels, in particular coal, and instead invest in renewable energy sources which represent the only independent source for the country.
Guest post: Pljevlja shareholder A2A must resist pressure to build new lignite unit in Montenegro
February 11, 2015
Montenegro’s government is pushing hard for the construction of a new unit at the Pljevlja lignite-fired power plant. NGOs are encouraging the major shareholder company to not give in to this pressure, writes Jelena Marojević Galić from Green Home.
Bankwatch stops cutting of another 22 hectares of forest for coal mining in Romania
February 6, 2015
In a file launched by Bankwatch in 2014, a Romanian court annulled [ro] 27 deforestation permits last week, preventing 22 hectares of forest in the country’s south-west to be cut for the expansion of an open-pit coal mine.
New arrests should dampen Serbia’s appetite for coal
February 4, 2015
Corruption cases continue to haunt Serbia’s coal sector as a new round of arrests last week has shown. They also illustrate how the dependence on coal creates vulnerabilities for Serbia’s energy sector and potentially its financiers, in particular in the aftermath of last year’s floods.
Guest post: Resettlement process for Kosovo Power Project does not comply with international standards
February 3, 2015
A report being presented today analyses the process with which 7000 are to be resettled for the Kosovo lignite mine and concludes that the World Bank-financed process does not comply with the bank’s own standards and is plagued by a slew of other weaknesses.
EBRD suspends loan for Romanian coal plant Turceni
January 30, 2015
Bucharest — The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) confirmed this week that it has suspended plans to finance the refurbishment of the Turceni coal power plant in Romania. The project is currently subject to a number of legal challenges on environmental grounds and Romanian authorities are investigating allegations of corruption at the plant.
Croatians say no to coal in referendum
January 26, 2015
Zagreb – Inhabitants of the city of Ploče on the Croatian coast overwhelmingly rejected a plan to build an 800 MW coal plant in their town in a referendum taking place over the weekend. The vote raises questions about the acceptability of other coal projects planned in the country, including the controversial Plomin C.