Last week the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change gave its strongest indication that the planet is headed towards
irreversible damage if we do not quit using fossil fuels immediately.
Yet both the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the European Investment Bank continue to fund some of the EU’s worst climate offenders, as our
new research exposes.
An evaluation of the EIB’s energy portfolio finds that the EU’s house bank is at odds with the Paris Agreement
on climate change. What is more, both the EIB and EBRD speak with a
forked tongue on addressing the climate crisis, since the two
continue to fund a number of companies that enjoy hefty bank
support despite a heavy share of fossil fuels on their books.
One of these companies, Serbia’s state utility EPS, is the subject of a Bankwatch complaint to the EBRD’s accountability mechanism, which contends that EPS
used money earmarked for preparing it for stronger EU policy to
actually dig and burn more coal.
In addition, our latest evaluation of the EBRD’s energy lending finds that fossil fuel lending has been on the uptick since at
least 2010.
With both banks now set to review their energy policies, the time has come to prepare these polluters for life beyond
coal.
Read more about how this can be done in our latest opinion piece.
 Use of public money to support Tuzla 7 coal power plant must be investigated
Plans to use public money to guarantee a Chinese loan for the
planned Tuzla 7 coal power plant could be illegal and need to be
investigated by the Energy Community Secretariat, according to a
formal complaint submitted to the regional body today by the Aarhus
Resource Centre, Sarajevo, and CEE Bankwatch Network.
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 Criminal investigation into illegal deforestation in Romania
In 2012, almost one hundred permits were issued to Oltenia Energy
Complex (OEC), allowing the company to cut down hectares of forest
to make way for coal mines. The permits were issued illegally,
however, as Bankwatch Romania proved in court over the past six
years.
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 Serbia is mining away a green future
Serbia’s notorious Drmno coal mine is rapidly expanding on Chinese
loans, pushing the country towards high-carbon lock-in and
long-term debt.
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 EIB obstructs climate action with continued fossil fuels spending
In the years 2013-2017, the EIB has invested EUR 18.4 billion
in renewable energy projects in Europe and beyond, but at the same
time handed out EUR 11.8 billion in EU public money to fossil fuels
projects.
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 The European Parliament resolution urges European financial institution to respect indigenous peoples rights
Celebrate the rights of those 5 per cent who hold 80 per cent of
the planet’s biodiversity. Today is the International Day of the
World’s Indigenous Peoples.
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 Environmentalism and democracy on the rise in Albania
In Albania, a small, southeastern European country only recently
emerging from decades-long, self-imposed isolation, democracy is
still struggling to be born, and suffers from often being confused
with unchecked capitalism.
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