Taking the chill off Romania’s residential buildings
June 4, 2019
Energy efficiency is taking centre stage in the Energy Union. Last summer, after long negotiations between the Parliament and the Council, a new energy efficiency target was set at 32.5 per cent by 2030. To meet the target, Romania is channelling public funds into renovating its residential sector which accounts for as much as 86 per cent of the country’s built environment.
Challenges of communicating the energy transformation in Latvia [Video]
December 12, 2018
Renewable energy has gotten a bad rap in Latvia. Since the construction of hydroelectric power stations during the Soviet era to the recent installment of the first wind parks and the country’s feed-in tarrif system, the ‘mandatory procurement scheme,’ renewables have been used for nefarious purposes like fuelling populism during election campaigns.
Dekarbonizácia slovenskej ekonomiky: Kto zaplatí za zelené Slovensko?
December 6, 2018
Slovensko čaká výrazné znižovanie emisií v priemysle a vykurovaní. Pomôcť mu môžu fondy v rámci Systému EÚ pre obchodovanie s emisiami. V hre je aj uhlíková daň, súkromný sektor je skôr proti. Source: Dekarbonizácia slovenskej ekonomiky: Kto zaplatí za
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.
First report from Parliament on next EU budget funding for energy and transport infrastructure shows more work to be done
July 23, 2018
On 19 July, two European Parliament Committees – on Industry, Research and Energy and Transport and Tourism – delivered their first draft report [1] outlining what they would like to see in the new Connecting Europe Facility, one part of the EU budget after 2020 that Bankwatch is monitoring because CEF provides funding for key pieces of energy and transportation infrastructure across the bloc.
In Latvia, people-led building restoration receives the largest-ever EU funding of its kind
July 19, 2018
A grant from the state-owned development financial institution ALTUM for multi-apartment residential building renovations in Salaspils, Latvia, is a success story about active residents and the support of their local municipality, which sets an important precedent for public mobilisation and participation.
The renovation will be televised: Latvia’s energy efficiency programme for multi-apartment buildings
January 23, 2018
A pressing challenge in post-Soviet cities and towns is the conversion of modernist planning into a contemporary and sustainable built environment.
The winners and losers of climate action at the European Investment Bank
May 18, 2017
This analysis of the bank’s climate action is based on the climate action database disclosed by the EIB. The database includes projects which were signed in 2016 and classified in line with the methodology approved by the bank in its Climate Strategy.
Guest post: Realities in the Czech renewable sector defy the ideas of the Paris Agreement
August 10, 2016
If fossil fuels’ grip on the Czech Republic’s energy sector remains, as current plans and policies confirm, the country’s support for the Paris Agreement will be nothing but a sham, writes Karel Polanecky from Bankwatch’s Czech member group Hnuti Duha.
Bring on the money, don’t ask for results. EU funds spending plans in the Czech Republic
January 28, 2016
The Czech Republic’s EU funds’ documents tick all the formal boxes, but the carbon intensity of its economy will most likely not change much.
