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.
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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.
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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, being considered for financing by the EBRD, EIB and IFC, is incompatible with waste prevention and recycling targets and endangers the already precarious livelihoods of the 12,000 people waste-picking in the city. The project’s environmental and social impact assessment fails to resolve numerous issues.
Read morePublications
Just Transition in four questions
Briefing | 3 December, 2018 | Download PDFAt the COP24 in Katowice, Poland is inviting world leaders to endorse the Silesia Declaration on Solidarity and Just Transition. The document emphasizes the importance of decarbonizing economies to protect the climate in a socially responsible way, str
Results of air pollution independent monitoring call for immediate action in Balkan countries
Briefing | 26 November, 2018 | Download PDFIndependent particulate matter monitoring implemented by CEE Bankwatch Network and partner organisations from the region between October 2016 and April 2017 in six different coal-heavy locations in the Balkans just scratched the surface of the impact t
Just transition in Bulgaria – mission possible for Maritsa Iztok energy complex?
Briefing | 23 November, 2018 | Download PDFReflecting the European trend for phasing out highly polluting fuels like coal, this preliminary analysis outlines options for a just energy transition in the broad region surrounding the heart of Bulgarian coal energy – Maritsa Iztok energy complex in
Comments on the EBRD Draft Energy Sector Strategy
Policy comments | 16 November, 2018 | Download PDFOn 8 October the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released its Special Report “Global Warming of 1.5oC”. The report warned that at the current level of climate commitments the world is on course for a disastrous 3 degrees Celsius of
Western Balkans power sector future scenarios and the EBRD
Briefing | 16 November, 2018 | Download PDFThe Western Balkans, as a region that represents both a post-Socialist economy and EU accession region, can benefit greatly from up-to-date insights by the EBRD on how to move its energy transition forward more rapidly. Its decision-makers have not yet
