Energy doublethink: contradictions at the EU bank in combatting climate change
September 11, 2018
This year the European Investment Bank is expected to review its 2013 ‘Screening and Assessment Criteria for Energy Projects’, also known as its Energy Lending Criteria, which governs the types of projects the bank can finance in the energy sector. The …
EIB issues first Sustainability Awareness Bond as Bankwatch urges it to shift away from fossil fuels
September 7, 2018
Just as the European Investment Bank (EIB), heavily present in South-East Europe (SEE), issued its first, EUR 500 million Sustainability Awareness Bond, CEE Bankwatch Network, one of the largest networks of environmental civil society organizations (CS …
Bankwatch: EIB Invested EUR 11.8bn in Fossil Fuels in the Years 2013-2
September 7, 2018
A newly released Bankwatch analysis shows that in the years 2013-2017 the European Investment Bank (EIB) invested EUR 18.4 billion in renewable energy projects in Europe and beyond. However, at the same time, it handed out EUR 11.8 billion in EU public …
The EU’s house bank obstructs climate action with continued fossil fuels spending and lacking investment in sustainable energy – new report
September 6, 2018
Prague – A new Bankwatch analysis released today shows that in the years 2013-2017, the European Investment Bank (EIB) has invested EUR 18.4 billion in renewable energy projects in Europe and beyond, but at the same time handed out EUR 11.8 billion in EU public money to fossil fuels projects. The new report details a set of measures – including an unequivocal commitment to end support for fossil fuels – that can be introduced in the course of the upcoming review of the EIB’s energy strategy to ensure the world’s largest public lender facilitates the global effort to tackle the climate crisis, rather than hamper it.
Pipeline mired in controversy gets half a billion euros from European development bank
July 4, 2018
Brussels, London, Rome, Prague – Today the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has approved a loan of EUR 500 million for the multi-billion euro Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) [1], in spite of the project failing to conform to the bank’s own policies and the fervent local resistance following the 878-kilometre pipeline where it crosses land in Greece and Albania before arriving onshore in Italy.
Nenskra Hydro Project – Update
June 29, 2018
The Asian Infrastracture Investment Bank is considering a non-sovereign loan of USD 100 million for a 280 MW reservoir-type hydropower plant, located in the Nenskra and Nakra valleys of Northwest Georgia. We would like to provide information about new developments that the AIIB should consider as part of its due dillgence on the project.
The great coal jobs fraud (2018 UPDATE)
June 28, 2018
This study, an update of our November 2016 analysis, examines the claims and finds that in almost all cases, they are exaggerated. In fact, even the current levels of employment cannot be maintained and some companies such as Elektroprivreda Srbije and …
New Kosovo power plant – an expensive and outdated anomaly in a decarbonising world
June 19, 2018
After years of delay, the New Kosovo lignite power plant took a step forward in 2017 with the signing of commercial contracts. However, numerous old issues, including carbon emissions, resettlement, and the dubious single-bidder procurement process, ha …
How can the EBRD maximise its leverage to bring about decarbonisation?
June 19, 2018
The economic viability of coal is ever decreasing. Without public financial support many coal investments are doomed to fail. Yet several institutions are still willing to finance an energy source that wrecks our climate, damages our health and wastes …
At 60, EU public bank needs fundamental reform – civil society groups
June 18, 2018
The European Investment Bank (EIB) needs to end its investment in fossil fuels and boost support for sustainable energy, reinforce its public accountability, and prioritise human rights, a group of 21 European NGOs write in a letter to EU finance ministers.
