Dirty palms: European Development Banks need better due diligence and accountability to prevent human rights abuses
November 29, 2019
Long considered the standard-setters in the world of development finance, Multilateral Development Banks are now at an important junction. Europe’s development financiers must step up their accountability and commitment to protection of people and nature.
Make ICT Fair – improving electronics supply chain
October 24, 2019
Make ICT Fair is an initiative to improve labour rights in the electronics supply chain, established by eleven European non-governmental organisations and academic institutions: Swedwatch, University of Edinburgh, CATAPA, Le Monde Diplomatic, Towards Sustainability Association, CEE Bankwatch Network, People and Planet, Electronic Watch, SETEM Catalunya, Südwind, and ICLEI.
Living on the edge: waste collection at Mongolia’s landfill rehabilitation project
October 16, 2019
Ulaanbaatar is growing, fast. The Mongolian capital has added several hundred thousand people in recent years, many of whom are abandoning the countryside and traditional forms of subsistence herding to pursue opportunities in the city. But the rush to the city is placing pressure on infrastructure like housing, transportation and other essential services.
Why we need to MakeICT fair
October 1, 2019
Smartphones, laptops and other electronic devices have become omnipresent in our society. With an expected annual growth of 9.6 % between 2017 and 2022, Information, Communication and Technology (ICT) is one of the fastest growing industries. While eve
Amulsar gold mine, Armenia
August 16, 2019
Armenia’s largest foreign investor, an international mining company Lydian, is developing the controversial Amulsar gold mine near the touristic spa town of Jermuk. In 2018 locals blocked access to the mine, having long contested that it posed a threat
Slovakia’s climate duplicity
August 15, 2019
At home, Slovakia pays lip service to the climate issues, but abroad – it does not even bother pretending. As it continues to finance crude oil facilities in Cuba, its real climate ambitions are laid bare.
bne IntelliNews – TANAP pipeline comes online, a major piece in Europe’s energy puzzle
July 3, 2019
Completion of the TANAP pipeline brings completion of the Southern Gas Corridor that will diversify Europe’s gas supplies away from Russia closer to reality — at a time when Russia is building its own new pipeline infrastructure. Source: bne IntelliNew
EIB blames Ombudsman for not helping redact VW report
July 2, 2019
Volkswagen Group duped the European Investment Bank, from which it borrowed €400m, by not disclosing it was cheating on emissions tests. Requests by EUobserver to see the anti-fraud report however have been consistently rejected. Source: EIB blames Omb
Racing against the clock: Kenyan villagers under imminent threat of eviction by project under EU’s bank’s appraisal
June 19, 2019
Today’s European Development Days forum in Brussels with its aspirational motto ‘building a world which leaves no one behind’ is an ironic backdrop to what is happening in the remote parts of Kenya, where a whole community is facing a threat of forced eviction by a project under appraisal of the EU’s own house bank. About a hundred people were demanded to abandon their homes by tomorrow – 20 June.
Bulgarian villagers call on the EBRD to ensure fair resettlement by coal company it finances
May 29, 2019
Beli Bryag, Bulgaria – Around one hundred villagers in the village of Beli Bryag, in Bulgaria’s Stara Zagora region, are anxiously awaiting for a resolution to their claims of proper resettlement by the Maritsa East mines, the company gearing up to expand its lignite mine to where the village currently stands. They have only until the end of the year before they are expropriated. [1]
