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
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.
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Belgrade incinerator public private partnership (PPP), Belgrade, Serbia
The planned Belgrade waste incinerator, financed by the EBRD, IFC and Austrian Development Bank (OeEB), is incompatible with waste prevention and recycling targets. The European Commission and EIB recognised this, and the EIB therefore refused to finance it. The project also endangers the already precarious livelihoods of up to 12,000 people waste-picking in the city.
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EBRD / EIB energy policy review
The European Investment Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development are both reviewing their energy sector lending policies. This is an opportunity to live up to their potential by combating climate change and promoting a sustainable future for all.
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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
