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
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.
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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.
Read morePublications
Problematic measures to be addressed during the ongoing assessment of Recovery and Resilience Plans
Briefing | 9 June, 2021 | Download PDFThis briefing provides a compilation of assessments of recovery plans submitted to the Recovery and Resilience Facility. The document was prepared in cooperation with Climate Action Network (CAN) Europe, EuroNatur and the European Environmental Bureau
Joint CSO letter on the TEN-E regulation: Stop the expansion of fossil gas
Advocacy letter | 1 June, 2021 | Download PDFThis advocacy letter aims to express civil society organisations’ concerns on the reintroduction of fossil gas in the revised trans-European infrastructure energy (TEN-E) regulation. Bankwatch and 53 other CSOs ask governments to vote against the incl
The role of gas in the recovery and resilience plans
Briefing | 31 May, 2021 | Download PDFThis briefing analyses plans for gas investments in the recovery plans of eight central and eastern European countries (Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Poland, Romania and Slovakia). It reveals that most contain gas investments,
Heating in the Western Balkans. Overview and recommendations for clean solutions
Study | 27 May, 2021 | Download PDFThis report makes the case for the urgent need to decarbonise heating in the Western Balkans. Heating in the region is still predominantly reliant on fossil fuels and other unsustainable heating sources, like wood biomass burnt in inefficient stoves. T
An ambitious vision for European wildlife. Suggestions to the draft Vision and Strategic Plan for the Bern Convention for the period to 2030.
Policy comments | 21 May, 2021 | Download PDFFriends of the Earth Europe (FOEE) and CEE Bankwatch Network submitted joint suggestions to the draft Vision and Strategic Plan for the period to 2030 of the Bern Convention on the Conservation of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats. The final text
