No end in sight for EBRD coal finance
May 10, 2013
Istanbul – With the 2013 EBRD annual meetings underway and in spite of repeated commitments to sustainability, the bank is set to continue financing coal projects that will dangerously aggravate climate change.
Health impacts of coal quantified – public lenders urged to act
May 10, 2013
The findings of a recent report entitled ‘The unpaid health bill: How coal power plants make us sick’, released by the Health and Environment Alliance (HEAL), detail the health impacts of existing coal in Europe and quantify the associated costs of mortality and chronic respiratory and cardiovascular disease due to coal pollution.
More dirty coal on the radar as EBRD announces new strategy for Kosovo
May 10, 2013
The EBRD’s new country strategy for Kosovo, announced by the bank on May 3 after Bankwatch Mail Issue 56 went to press, has confirmed what NGOs and others had feared in the consultation process for the EBRD’s first strategy in its new country of operation: that financial support for a new major lignite power plant is very much on the EBRD’s radar, despite evidence that Kosovo does not need such a power plant as well as the potential undermining of EU climate goals.
EBRD Energy policy review – no more excuses, rhetoric or finessing
May 10, 2013
Energy is the watchword of the day, as we keep increasing the need for it, no matter the costs, apparently. Well, the costs do matter but they are distorted by subsidies old and new, for fossil fuels and for renewable energy sources, while the global business world is made to feel increasingly insecure by the price of carbon emissions.
The climate crisis and the role of Europe’s public banks
April 22, 2013
With each passing day, there is less chance that we will manage to keep the planet within the “safe” limit of two degrees Celsius global warming that would avoid disastrous climate change. The European Investment Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development can play a pivotal role in leveraging more private investment for sustainable energy. Both institutions are now reviewing their energy lending policies.
EBRD with disastrous start in Kosovo, European Parliament not amused
April 19, 2013
The European Parliament yesterday chastised the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development for its explicit interest in financing a new lignite-fired power plant in Kosovo. NGOs hope the bank will pay more attention to the Parliament than it did to civil society and energy experts so far.
European Parliament wants green energy, not coal, as part of Kosovo integration
April 19, 2013
The European Parliament yesterday blasted the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) for considering financing of the planned USD 2 billion Kosova e Re lignite power plant near Pristina.
[Campaign update] Arctic Sunrise joins campaign against coal power plant in Croatia
April 17, 2013
Yesterday Greenpeace’s legendary ship Arctic Sunrise joined in the campaign against Plomin C, a coal-fired power plant in Croatia.
NGOs to EIB and EBRD: Mistakes like Šoštanj must not happen again
March 27, 2013
Yesterday, 20 March, Focus Slovenia, CEE Bankwatch Network and 96 other NGOs sent a letter to the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), calling on them to never commit to such a misguided loan as they had with Slovenian lignite plant Šoštanj 6.
Guest post: Never again Sostanj
March 20, 2013
Disappointed by loan disbursements to one of the dirtiest coal projects in Europe, almost 100 organisations have called on two public lenders to not repeat the same mistakes, ever.
