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New Kosovo power plant – an expensive and outdated anomaly in a decarbonising world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.
The energy sector in Romania
May 18, 2018
Even though Romania traditionally had the third lowest energy import dependency rate in the European Union, due to natural gas and oil reserves and an oversized power generation sector, since 2019 the country has shifted from electricity exporter to ne
Rovinari unit 7, Romania
May 16, 2018
CANCELLED: The Romanian Government has been negotiating for several years with the Chinese Government to build a new 600 MW unit at the lignite power plant in Rovinari, Gorj County. The new unit would be built on the site of Units 1 and 2, currently decommissioned. A new up and running plant would pollute the whole region for at least 40 more years, a coal plant’s average lifespan.
EPS restructuring loan
May 10, 2018
Despite its commitments to increase the share of renewables under the Energy Community and reduce greenhouse gas emissions within the process of EU accession, the Serbian government seems determined to remain locked-in to a carbon intensive energy syst
The EBRD strategy for Uzbekistan
May 9, 2018
Changes in the approach to governance put forward by the President Shavkat Mirziyoyev deserve to be encouraged by the international community. It is natural that the EBRD is ready to provide support to a country willing to accelerate reforms. However,
