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
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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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.
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Pljevlja I power plant, Montenegro
The existing 225 MW Pljevlja thermal power plant in the north of Montenegro, near the borders with Serbia and Bosnia-Herzegovina, has been operating since 1982. The plant was originally planned to comprise two units but the second one was never built. The plant, along with the extensive use of coal and wood for heating, has caused unbearably bad air quality in the town.
Read morePublications
How can the EIB and the EU financial mechanisms support the decarbonisation of district heating?: Exemplary cases in central and eastern Europe
Briefing | 27 April, 2022 | Download PDFThe heating and cooling sector accounts for half of the EU’s energy consumption, and both district heating and individual heating are still dominated by fossil fuels and inefficiently burned biomass. According to Eurostat data, only 22 per cent of heating and cooling is generated from renewable energy. Decarbonisation of this sector, through increasing its efficiency and use of renewable energy sources, is key to the success of the EU’s climate neutrality strategy.
Breaking down the ‘do no significant harm’ principle
Briefing | 7 April, 2022 | Download PDFThis briefing aims to explain the ‘do no significant harm’ principle and how it has been used in the Recovery and Resilience Facility. It also raises concerns over the long-term risks and implications of applying the ‘do no significant harm’ principle
Air pollution and associated health impacts in Novaci, North Macedonia
Report | 6 April, 2022 | Download PDFFor the last forty years, the municipality of Novaci has been home to North Macedonia’s REK Bitola complex, which consists of a 675 MW lignite power plant, open-cast mines and ash disposal sites. Its inhabitants have been breathing pollution emitted at
The EU must promote sustainable energy – not gas dependence – in the Western Balkans
Open letter | 5 April, 2022 | Download PDFThis joint letter to President von der Leyen by 36 civil society organisations working in the region therefore asks the European Commission to stop promoting fossil gas and instead to pay attention to much-needed but currently neglected initiatives on energy efficiency and sustainable forms of renewable energy.
Efficient district heating in CEE-countries
Briefing | 28 March, 2022 | Download PDFRussia’s invasion of Ukraine has revealed Europe’s dependency on fossil fuels. The European Commission recently presented a Communication called Repower EU with the aim to make Europe independent from Russian fossil fuels well before 2030, starting with fossil gas. Energy efficiency measures that bring energy savings, like switching from inefficient to more efficient district heating networks that are based on exclusively renewable energy, are part of the solution and can structurally help solve EU dependency from energy imports.
