What we do - Bankwatch

From a grassroots to the international level …

We’re the largest network of grassroots, environmental and human rights groups in central and eastern Europe.

We monitor public finance institutions that are responsible for hundreds of billions of investments across the globe. The banks and funds we watch are often obscure but always important entities that function outside public scrutiny.

Together with local communities and other NGOs we work to expose their influence and provide a counterbalance to their unchecked power. 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.

CAMPAIGN AREAS

Beyond fossil fuels

Coal is an outdated industry on its last leg. Public finance can move our economies in a new, socially responsible direction.

Rights, democracy, development

Public money must not become an auxiliary for human rights violations or the marginalisation of affected communities.

Finance and biodiversity

A clash is raging between nature and finance. Our work where finance meets the natural world advocates for adequate protection and restoration projects to ensure a green future for all.

Energy transformation

We work to ensure that EU financial flows address the climate crisis and do no harm to people and nature. We do this by involving the public in the design and spending of EU investments.

Cities for people

City residents should have a say in how this money is spent in their cities. Their voices can help make their cities more resilient in the face of climate challenges.

INSTITUTIONS WE MONITOR

European Bank for Reconstruction and Development

European Investment Bank

Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank

Asian Development Bank

OUR PROJECTS

Boskov most hydropower plant, North Macedonia

Boskov Most was one of 18 hydropower greenfield projects planned by the North Macedonian government in the Mavrovo National Park. After five years of campaigning, we convinced the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development about the folly of this project and to cancel its EUR 65 million loan. Without its major source of funding, the project lost steam and was discontinued.

ARCHIVED: 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.

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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