New report calls on Member States to steer EU regional and recovery funding towards climate neutrality
July 16, 2020
Ahead of this week’s European Council meeting where Heads of State will gather to discuss and potentially agree on the next term EU budget, the report analyses investments and measures presented in the NECPs of the following 14 Member States: Bulgaria, Croatia, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, France, Hungary, Latvia, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia and Spain. It points out the measures in NECPs that are set to receive funding from the next EU budget and recovery funding, makes the case for significant spending improvements to boost climate ambition, and indicates harmful measures in the NECPs that should be excluded from the EU funding.
A dozen green deal steps for the new Slovak government
April 1, 2020
With the appointment of a new centre-right government in Slovakia on 21 March, the Slovak Climate Initiative prepared a twelve point programme to move Slovakia closer to its climate and energy goals.
Financing the low carbon transition in Romania
February 21, 2020
Romania is the country in the South East European and Central East European with the best enabling conditions for the energy transition. Yet it continues to be one of the lignite intensive countries in the EU. Read our report to explore why on the European scale, Romanians still pay more than their European counterparts for the costs of this carbon intensive energy system.
Mixed messages in Romania’s energy and climate plan, as new coal projects are shelved but no date set for a coal phase-out
February 17, 2020
Romania’s new national energy and climate plan (NECP) is sending incoherent signals regarding the country’s commitment for a just transition away from fossil fuels, finds an analysis by Bankwatch Romania.
Romania’s coal phase-out by 2030: an unreachable goal?
February 14, 2020
National Energy and Climate Plan is a fundamental document that will define Romania’s ambitions in the field for the next decade. The recently published NECP is unambitious and it ignores Romania’s enormous potential for green economy transition and the European Green Deal.
Latvia adopts climate and energy plan and long term strategy
January 31, 2020
While both strategies nod towards climate change concerns and the reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, the NECP primarily aims towards a more advanced economy rather than a genuinely favourable state of the environment.
A breath of fresh air: How Latvia can increase wind power capacity tenfold by 2030
December 16, 2019
When it comes to wind energy, Latvia lags far behind its neighbours.
Commission calls for higher ambition from central and eastern Europe in energy and climate plans
June 18, 2019
For immediate release. Brussels, Prague – Ahead of Thursday’s European Council summit where the EU’s long-term climate targets will take centre stage, the Commission has released an assessment of Member States’ national energy and climate plans (NECPs) and is pressing countries of central and eastern Europe (CEE) to do more so that Europe can meet its 2050 net-zero emissions objective.
A false solution to a real problem?
June 14, 2019
New research by Bankwatch shows energy and climate plans (NECPs) in 7 CEE countries over-rely on unsustainable biomass to reach their renewable energy objectives.
Analysis of biomass in NECPs
June 14, 2019
This publication analyses the National Energy and Climate Plans (NECPs) in Bulgaria, Czechia, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Poland and Slovakia and these countries’ measures to support forms of wood biomass. The majority of these countries plan logging an
