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
INSTITUTIONS WE MONITOR
OUR PROJECTS

Komarnica hydropower plant, Montenegro
Planned by Montenegro’s state-owned electricity utility EPCG, the need for the Komarnica hydropower plant has never been proven.
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EU funds and biodiversity
Nature is in crisis. 81 per cent of habitats in the EU are in ‘poor condition’, and without swift action this will only become worse. We need systemic and wide-reaching action and investments to tackle biodiversity loss and help restore nature before it is too late. The EU has pledged 120 billion of the EU budget to be earmarked for biodiversity by 2026, offering enormous potential to restore and protect nature, providing this is properly invested. We are therefore campaigning to ensure these public funds work for – not against – nature.
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Ugljevik power plant, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Commissioned in 1985, the 300 MW coal power plant in Ugljevik, Bosnia and Herzegovina, has become famous for emitting more sulphur dioxide than all of Germany’s coal power plants in 2019.
Read morePublications
REPowerEU: a closing window for energy democratisation
Briefing | 9 June, 2023 | Download PDFThis briefing calls on policymakers to strengthen citizen participation in the energy transition through the ongoing revision of the recovery and resilience plans and drafting of the REPowerEU chapters.
The forgotten annex in the EBRD Sustainability Report 2022: human rights
Briefing | 9 June, 2023 | Download PDFIn 2022, Bankwatch and its partner civil society organisations provided the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) with over twelve reports highlighting human rights concerns related to investment projects in the Bank’s countries of operation. However, none of these concerns are mentioned in the EBRD Sustainability Report 2022.
Energy insecurity: EU funds for fossil gas in Poland and Romania contradict climate goals
Report | 6 June, 2023 | Download PDFThis report reveals how much EU public money has been channelled toward the expansion of fossil gas infrastructure in Poland and Romania since 2014 as well as what plans these two countries have for using various EU funding sources to finance additional fossil gas projects in coming years.
Implementation of Yerevan’s Green City Action Plan
Report | 2 June, 2023 | Download PDFThis report assesses the extent to which the actions, targets and objectives set out in Yerevan’s GCAP have been implemented and how this has affected the city’s environmental conditions.
Tackling energy poverty in EU Member States
Briefing | 2 June, 2023 | Download PDFThis briefing provides an overview of selected energy poverty measures in five European countries (the Czech Republic, Italy, Latvia, Poland and Slovakia) to illustrate different understandings and approaches to tackling energy poverty across Europe.