Time to put an end to Albania’s fossil fuel déjà vu
December 21, 2023
In the last two decades, residents of Vlora, a lively tourist city on the Albanian coast, have had a slew of mostly unsuccessful oil and gas projects foisted on them. No wonder a recent event there called on the government to stop its costly fossil fuel experiments and seize the opportunity to declare Albania’s electricity production and consumption 100 per cent renewable.
European development bank decides to keep cooking the planet
December 15, 2023
The board of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) decided yesterday, 14 December, to green-light a new energy lending policy that, with some caveats, allows for continued financing of fossil gas pipelines and gas-fired power plants.
Paris alignment: why there is no more space for European public money to finance fossil fuels
December 14, 2023
The aim of this briefing is to lay out the latest scientific evidence on why there is no more space for fossil fuel investments if we aim to keep global temperature increases to below 1.5 °C by the end of the century.
Crunch time for European development bank’s fossil fuel spending
December 12, 2023
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is set to decide the future of its energy investments right after the latest round of UN climate negotiations concludes this week. Its Executive Directors must heed the EU’s call for a fossil fuel subsidy phase-out
The EU and US are fossil-fooling the Western Balkans with gas How can the region cut to a clean future?
November 29, 2023
The Western Balkans’ energy transition is finally starting to pick up pace. But false solutions such as fossil gas threaten to divert resources and create new fossil-fuel lock-in. So why do the European Union (EU) and United States (US) continue to push such projects in the region and what can be done about it?
A call to defend the independence of accountability mechanisms
October 9, 2023
Bankwatch joins other community advocates around the world in sounding the alarm about growing threats to the independence of accountability mechanisms attached to international financial institutions and other development agencies.
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development must do more to safeguard biodiversity in its new environmental policy
October 4, 2023
As the global biodiversity crisis grows ever more urgent, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development’s (EBRD) environmental policy and practice is proving insufficient to prevent harm to nature, let alone allow its restoration. The Bank’s review of its environmental and social policy in the coming months must provide a proportionate response to the scale of the problem.
Civil society groups urge the EBRD to rethink mining investments
September 20, 2023
Twenty civil society organisations from Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Mongolia, Uganda, Ukraine and Uzbekistan, as well as seven international environmental and human rights organisations, are calling on the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) to reconsider its approach to mining investments.
Complaint filed against EBRD: labour rights violations, land grabs and exploitation at cotton producer Indorama Agro in Uzbekistan
September 5, 2023
On 3 August 2023, Uzbek Forum for Human Rights (Uzbek Forum), assisted by Bankwatch Network, filed a complaint with the Independent Project Accountability Mechanism (IPAM) of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) for human rights violations at Indorama Agro, one of Uzbekistan’s largest cotton producers.
Is this development? Public development banks must rethink their investments and put local communities first
September 4, 2023
On 4 to 6 September, the world’s public development banks will gather for the Finance in Common Summit in Cartagena, Colombia. They’ll be discussing key development issues – from climate change to infrastructure – issues that affect the lives of millions of people around the world. Bankwatch is on the ground to expose the adverse impacts of investments made by development banks and advocates for meaningful community participation in decision-making on development projects.
