New report: European Investment Bank hydropower failures necessitate tighter rules
October 21, 2021
The European Investment Bank has financed a series of damaging hydropower projects since 2010 which underline the need to tighten its environmental and social standards, according to a new report published today by CEE Bankwatch Network and EuroNatur.
Public money vs. pristine rivers
October 21, 2021
As the EIB revises its Environmental and Social Standards, this report presents eight hydropower schemes in central and eastern Europe either financed or under consideration by the Bank. The projects – some financed directly and others via intermediari
IEA call to public finance institutions: End of finance for new fossil fuel projects & massive scale-up of clean energy spending needed
October 14, 2021
Our energy systems are a long way from alignment with the pathway to stay below a 1.5°C rise in global temperatures, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA) World Energy Outlook 2021 report published yesterday.
Joint civil society statement: Making human rights a true priority of the EIB
October 14, 2021
This joint civil society statement prepared by 12 civil society organisations outlines our recommendations for integrating human rights into the EIB’s Environmental and Social Sustainability Framework, by proposing specific improvements to the Policy a
Kenya energy project exposes the dark side of EU development funds
October 13, 2021
A third of the European Investment Bank (EIB) portfolio in 2020 went through financial intermediaries, a channel that has already enabled multiple projects with devastating consequences for nature and communities with virtually zero accountability. The ongoing review of the EIB’s environmental and social standards is a crucial opportunity to ensure transparency and proper scrutiny of all projects supported with European public money.
EIB misinterprets EU’s development finance needs
October 12, 2021
The European Investment Bank (EIB) has long been seeking to take a more significant role in the EU’s overseas development effort. But it has also been resisting calls to upgrade its policy on the environmental, social and human rights ramifications of the projects it supports.
Budapest airport torments neighbours as expansion project evades environmental checks
October 11, 2021
The expansion of Budapest’s Ferenc Liszt International Airport, financed by the European Investment Bank (EIB), illustrates how big infrastructure projects are promoted at the expense of people and the environment, ignoring EU environmental requirements and the EIB’s own environmental and social standards. However, what is most striking about this case is the fact that a project with EU financial support, has ended up trapping citizens in miserable lives only few are able to flee.
Trouble in the air: EIB ignores environmental and social burdens caused by Budapest Airport expansion
October 11, 2021
The Budapest Ferenc Liszt International Airport is located 16 kilometres from the centre of Budapest. With a licence for a capacity of 6 million passengers per year and 15 million in the peak year of 2019, new plans to develop the airport aim to increa
Why can a third of European Investment Bank lending evade the Bank’s environmental and social rules?
September 21, 2021
The European Investment Bank’s (EIB) financial intermediaries (FIs) help the EIB to reach smaller clients than it would otherwise be able to finance. The EIB’s global lending via intermediaries amounted to EUR 22.6 billion in 2020. In the EU, credit li
A third of European Investment Bank lending evades environmental and social rules
September 21, 2021
More than a third of the European Investment Bank (EIB)’s EU lending is carried out via intermediaries. Yet most of this money disappears into a black hole, with no information published about the final beneficiaries and no checks by the EIB about their environmental and social impacts. The EIB’s new safeguard framework is supposed to address this, but the draft text leaves the Bank far behind its peers.
