From a grassroots to the international level …
We investigate the impacts of public finance, work with affected communities and local organisations across the world and help them protect their rights and livelihoods. We make sure their stories are being told in Europe’s power centers.
We regularly meet representatives of the institutions we monitor and we’re in Brussels, too, doing our bit to make Europe a fairer, cleaner and sustainable place.
Alternative news
We expose the risks of international public finance and bring critical updates from the ground.
We believe that the billions of public money should work for people and the environment.
FOCUS AREAS
INSTITUTIONS WE MONITOR
OUR PROJECTS
Kresna gorge / Struma motorway, Bulgaria
The Struma motorway is tragically emblematic of an EU-funded project that has wrought havoc on European biodiversity and the wishes of local communities. In spite of two decades of protest by civil society and citizens, part of the Struma motorway section is planned directly through the Kresna gorge, a Natura 2000 site and Bulgaria’s richest biodiversity hotspot.
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Krapska Reka small hydropower plant, Macedonia
Loopholes in the EBRD’s due diligence, together with a lack of assessment and monitoring by Macedonia’s local and central government, has proven to be a lethal combination for the country’s rivers. A prime example is the Krapska Reka small hydropower project. The authorities’ failure to recognise the location as part of the proposed Jakupica National Park, Emerald area and a future Natura 2000 site, on top of poor mitigation measures and construction practices, have caused irreversible damage to this small river valley.
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Dabrova Dolina hydropower plant, Croatia
A harmless-sounding mill conversion project on Croatia’s stunning river Mrežnica is a textbook example of how even small hydropower plants can damage protected areas. It also exemplifies the lack of transparency and oversight of investments that the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development channelled through commercial bank intermediaries.
Read morePublications
CSO letter to the EBRD on the revision of the Good Governance policies related to Financial Intermediaries (FIs)
Advocacy letter | 13 March, 2019 | Download PDFThe undersigned CSOs welcome this opportunity to submit comments on the EBRD’s revision of its environmental and Social Policy, Access to Information Policy and Project Accountability Policy relating to financial intermediary lending. As it was documen
Coal in the Romanian National Energy and Climate Plan (NECP)
Briefing | 13 March, 2019 | Download PDFRomania was among the countries which managed to submit its draft NECP before the deadline at the end of 2018. This came at a cost – a very limited period for consultations (only ten days), a fact which was signalled by most interested stakeholders. Th
Barriers and project criteria for the Upper Nitra region transition process
Briefing | 5 March, 2019 | Download PDFThis study serves as an invitation and starting point for further discussions and collaboration on just transition in the Upper Nitra region of Slovakia. A just transformation means that while transitioning from coal, the projects of big corporations w
Chronic coal pollution
Study | 28 February, 2019 | Download PDFIn the Western Balkans there are 16 outdated coal power plants that threaten public health by producing enormous amounts of air pollution, impacting people in the region, the EU and beyond. Every year they cause 3,000 premature deaths, 8,000 cases of b
The EBRD Country Strategy for Azerbaijan
Advocacy letter | 26 February, 2019 | Download PDFAs the EBRD reviews its Country Strategy for Azerbaijan, Civil society organisations approached the Board of Directors to share their concerns about the situation in the country and asked the Bank to be clear that funding should be linked to the perfor
