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

After recovery towards cohesion
For the first time, the EU climate ambition is backed by an unprecedented financial package. The recovery and cohesion policy funds are planned to be two major components to accelerate the energy transition and reach towards climate neutrality by 2050. Bankwatch makes sure these EU funds support transformative and sustainable investments that advance energy consumption reduction, sustainable renewables and smart grids, ideally owned by communities.
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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.
Read morePublications
Bankwatch Mail 2
Bankwatch Mail | 2 August, 1999 | Download PDFIn this EIB Issue: EIB – Eminence Grease of Europe * EIB: Europe’s Biggest Bulldozer * EIB Highway In Bulgaria * World Bank And Lithuanian Airport * Who In Ukraine Wants Nuclear Reactors?
Bankwatch Mail 3
Bankwatch Mail | 2 August, 1999 | Download PDFIn this World Bank AGM issue: Balkan Reconstruction * EIA In Estonia * Lithuanian Airport * Nuclear Reactors In Eastern Europe * Energy Efficiency Funds Unused In Ukraine
Bankwatch Mail 1
Bankwatch Mail | 1 April, 1999 | Download PDFIn this EBRD issue: EBRD Bankers Gone Crazy? * Rushing For Caspian Oil * Kumtor’s Gold * K2/R4 * Nuclear Safety Account
Environmental Impact Assessments for Completion of Rivne Unit 4 and Khmelnitsky Unit 2 Nuclear Power Stations. Addendum. Environmental Impact of the Non-Nuclear Alternative
Official document | 17 September, 1998 | Download PDFconducted by Mouchel Consulting Ltd.