Highlights

As public consultations on the EBRD’s reviewed environmental and social and information policies come to a close, Bankwatch staff reports from the final meetings in London by highlighting its concerns with the drafts. Despite the Bank unveiling a list of new Performance Requirements, Bankwatch is apprehensive that environmental protection and the rights of local communities to participate in project design and implementation is largely being left to the clients’ discretion. One of the most glaring oversights by the EBRD is its decision not to give due priority to gender considerations in its lending activities.

Read more about Bankwatch’s specific comments on the policies and watch the video online.

[Highlight] Is the European Investment Bank not telling us something?

(March 25, 2008)

The redoubtable Private Eye seems to be on to something concerning the EIB’s predilection for financing private finance initiative (PFI) schemes in the UK. Read the story from the current edition of the Eye.

These kind of schemes are becoming ever more common in central and eastern Europe, usually under the name public-private partnerships, or PPPs. Bankwatch is getting the word out on the perils of PPPs, and as this recent article in Bankwatch Mail shows, the World Bank itself has serious reservations about the prudence of promoting PPPs in CEE, yet this doesn’t appear to be stopping it and the other banks from getting behind a major roll-out of such schemes across the region.

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[Highlight] Vlora citizens demand a referendum and a yachting harbour instead of an oil terminal and pipeline

(March 11, 2008)

Civic Alliance for the Protection of the Bay of Vlora

The Civic Alliance for the Protection of the Vlora Bay, a local Albanian initiative group, continued on Sunday to press for a referendum on an oil deposit and a thermo-power plant being constructed north of the town of Vlora on Albania's Adriatic coast. The group's latest rally on Sunday picked up from the major protest on January 18 this year when representatives from the World Bank Inspection Panel visited Vlora to investigate allegations regarding the harmful impacts of the thermo-power plant the World Bank is financing together with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the European Investment Bank.

[Highlight] Sakhalin II victory – who is now prepared to touch beleaguered project?

(March 4, 2008)

CEE Bankwatch Network, Pacific Environment, Sakhalin Environment Watch (SEW), World Wildlife Fund (WWF)

Sakhalin Energy Investment Company revealed yesterday that it is withdrawing applications for hundreds of millions of dollars in public financing for the crisis-plagued Sakhalin II project from the US Export Import Bank (Ex-Im Bank) and the UK Export Credit Guarantee Department (ECGD). This announcement is a triumph for local environmental groups that have formed a coalition with national and international environmental organisations to block billions of dollars in public and private financing due to the chronic environmental impacts of the project.

Petr Hlobil, Bankwatch's International Campaigns coordinator, paid tribute to “the outstanding, tireless work carried out in the last five years by Dimitry Lisitsyn, his colleagues at Sakhalin Environment Watch and Sakhalin islanders who have refused to capitulate to the environmental and social degradation that this badly designed and implemented project has unleashed on Sakhalin Island. Their rigorous project monitoring and incredible spirit are an inspiration to communities all around the world who find themselves with new, unwanted, socially maladjusted big oil neighbours. We wish them continued success in the fight to minimise the impacts on their communities brought by the fatally flawed Sakhalin II project.”

Read more reaction here to yesterday's announcement and what this entails for those financial institutions still deliberating on whether to sink project finance millions into a project where environmental irresponsibility shows no signs of abating.

[Highlight] “No more hazardous waste disasters in Zagreb!” demand local groups

(February 21, 2008)

CEE Bankwatch Network, Green Action

Members of three Croatian environmental groups held an action today in front of the Ministry of Environment to demand that it urgently deals with 250 tonnes of toxic ash left over from Zagreb’s closed PUTO hazardous waste incinerator that closed in 2002. The groups - Green Action, Resnik Environmental Protection Association and SOS Gradec District - also demand that plans to build a new municipal waste incinerator in the city are halted, considering Croatia’s inability to adequately deal with toxic waste.

The new incinerator, which may be financed by the European Investment Bank, is planned to be 38.5 times larger than PUTO (385 000 tonnes per year), and to produce up to 100 000 tonnes of toxic ashes annually. However there is nowhere in Croatia to dispose of this ash, and the project’s development has been fraught with irregularities. Read more.

[Highlight] Environmental failings of proposed high-speed motorway in St. Petersburg exposed by public impact assessment

(February 20, 2008)

The Western High-Speed Diameter (WHSD) – a new toll highway planned to cut across St. Petersburg by 2011 and being promoted as a new strategic project" – will affect the health of local residents and destroy the unique nature reserve of Yuntolovo. These are the findings of a new public environmental impact study initiated by local environmental movement Save Yuntolovo.

The WHSD is to be an eight-lane 49 kilometre long road serving as part of the IX Pan-European Transport Corridor connecting Moscow and Finland's Helsinki. The USD 3.35 billion speedway is being pushed as a "strategic project" for the city and also touted as the first example of a public-private partnership in Russia. The project has already attracted the EBRD, the EIB, and the IFC all of which have said that they are interested in financing the construction.Yet, the implications of the project have been stirring a lot of unease among local people. Forty thousand residents of St. Petersburg have already voiced their protest in a petition against the project, saying that construction will violate their rights to a favourable living environment.

[Highlight] Might as well deal with it – Poland’s addicted to waste

(February 7, 2008)

CEE Bankwatch Network, Institute of Environmental Economics

In a letter to European Commissioners Huebner and Dimas, Polish NGOs, including Bankwatch’s member group Institute for Environmental Economics, have communicated their disagreement with Poland’s proposed plans for EU funding to cover 11 major waste incinerator projects at a total cost of over 1.2 billion euros. The costs are staggering, and with over 60 percent of the proposed Cohesion Fund support for waste management in Poland being earmarked for incinerators, recycling and composting schemes are barely getting a look in – despite their obvious environmental benefits, cost-effectiveness and their place above incineration in the waste hierarchy as laid down in the EU Waste Framework Directive.

Local communities living next to the planned incinerators, in particular in Krakow, are already struggling against these unwanted and ill-conceived plans. If realised, these incinerators would lock large areas of Poland into twenty years of waste addiction, killing all incentives for waste minimisation and recycling. Would you want to live downwind of such costly, polluting plants, which academic studies have shown spew dioxins, heavy metals like mercury, dust particles and acid gases such as sulphuric dioxide, all linked among other things with increased cancer incidence, respiratory and cardiovascular diseases, and adverse effects on the sexual development of children?

Alternatives are staring Poland and the EU in the face, as the Polish NGO letter clearly states. Addiction to waste via incineration can be cured, if the Brussels purse-holders take note, and action.

[Highlight] Vlora demonstrators tell World Bank delegation to pull out of disputed power plant

(January 22, 2008)

Civic Alliance for the Protection of the Bay of Vlora

Close to 3000 residents of Vlora, an Albanian city on the Adriatic coast, greeted the visit of representatives of the World Bank’s Inspection Panel with a clear plea - end World Bank credits for the EUR 110m thermal power plant that is part of a huge energy park development threatening the sensitive Vlora bay.

It is the second time that the Inspection Panel members have visited Vlora since local initiative group the Alliance for Protection of Vlora Bay lodged an appeal in April 2007. These huge energy developments have speeded ahead with next to no public consultation, and in recent months local residents have staged regular demonstrations and road blockades, accompanied by violent police crackdowns. The EBRD and the EIB are both also involved in the financing of the plant, a project that has been formally rebuked by the UN’s Aarhus Convention because of the extremely limited public consultations offered by the developers. More information about the Vlora Industrial and Energy Park is here.

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[Highlight] They're at it again, but can the EBRD get its information policy on the up and up?

(January 10, 2008)

CEE Bankwatch Network, GTI

The EBRD has made some progress towards more openness in its operations since reviewing its Public Information Policy (PIP) in mid-2006. But during its current policy review, the EBRD has its work cut out to bring the PIP in line with best practices for public information disclosure, particularly when it comes to its business dealings and since the EBRD is also in the throes of its Environmental Policy review. As part of its New Year’s resolution, the EBRD would do well to heed the recent recommendations from Bankwatch and the Global Transparency Initiative. Find out more about what this policy review entails here.

[Highlight] Vlora citizens' road blockade stops construction work on energy projects for eighth day

(December 31, 2007)

The Civic Alliance for Protection of the Vlora Bay together with the Vlora Student Movement is now in the eighth day of protesting against construction of the Vlora thermo-power plant and a hydrocarbons terminal on a beach on the outskirts of the Albanian city located on the Adriatic coast. On December 25 a group of 30 people blocked the access road to the construction sites thus preventing further progress on both sites. Four days later, 10 protesters were arrested, including Eneid Hamzaj, the leader of the Vlora Student Movement.

[Highlight] Geophysicist tells Commission about risky Belene nuke project - have you?

(November 20, 2007)

CEE Bankwatch Network

Professor emeritus of Stockholm University and Swedish geophysicist Nils-Axel Mörner wrote to the European Commission last week and expressed his expert opinion about the proposed Belene Nuclear Power Plant in Bulgaria, citing serious threats from seismic activity to developing nuclear power in the region. The Commission is due next month to give an opinion on the project, and a positive nod would allow public financing for a project that ever since its inception in the early eighties has been labelled "technically unsafe and economically unviable".

It’s not too late for you to join thousands of others and have your voice heard by the Commission. Have a look at what Professor Mörner has to say and get involved with Bankwatch’s most recent e-action!

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[Highlight] Growth gremlins: EBRD hears the problems in CEE but appears disinclined to alter course

(November 14, 2007)

CEE Bankwatch Network

The EBRD’s Transition Report 2007 came out this week, and the headline news is that economic growth in central and eastern Europe (CEE) is at record highs this year – the average across the region is expected to hit 7 percent, up from 6.9 percent in 2006. Yet there is significant unease across the region about the market reform agenda being promoted by the likes of the EBRD, and to its credit the EBRD does not shy away from documenting popular dissatisfaction on the CEE street.

Take the massive levels of growth in Azerbaijan – 30 percent in 2007 – driven by an oil economy that has been wholeheartedly supported by the IFIs. However, as the EBRD concedes, Azeri inflation is expected to rise significantly to 16 per cent in 2007 from 8.3 per cent in 2006. Wasn’t the EBRD-backed BTC pipeline project supposed to bring sustainable development to Azerbaijan and the region? And rather than taking steps to address some of the hardships that have been foisted on people in CEE by “reform”, a clear message from the EBRD’s latest Transition Report is that “we hear the pain, but the reforming goes on.” Read more here about how things are not going according to plan in Georgia and Hungary.

[Highlight] Part-time approach to development must end at the EIB

(November 7, 2007)

CEE Bankwatch Network

In 2006 alone, the European Investment Bank loaned close to 6 billion euros in non-EU countries. A new report commissioned by Bankwatch shows that the loan numbers may be impressive but the EIB policies underpinning them are totally inadequate. Rather than acting as a standard-bearer of the norms and values called for by its original mandate and shared among EU member states, the EIB’s policy holes leave it currently as the wrong institution to be tackling such EU goals as improving the livelihoods of the most vulnerable in the developing world. Read more here.

Download: European Investment Bank: Promoting sustainable development, "where appropriate" (PDF)

[Highlight] Georgian Labour Party sues over EBRD-financed Tbilisi water project

(October 16, 2007)

CEE Bankwatch Network, Green Alternative

A hearing on the Georgian Labour Party’s court case against Tbilisi City Council over the doubling of Tbilisi water tariffs and the introduction of collective metering in residential blocks is scheduled for tomorrow, Wednesday, October 17. The water tariff in the city doubled from GEL 1.2 to GEL 2.4 per family member per month in January of this year – a large rise in a city where around half of the population lives beneath the poverty line – and the installation of collective meters has resulted in serious conflicts between neighbours about water usage and payment.

The Labour Party argues that collective metering is a violation of citizens’ constitutional rights and that the price increase was approved without any analysis to show that it was necessary. The current legal dispute is part of a wider controversy about the “Tbilisi water supply improvement project”, financed with a EUR 15 million loan from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. Read more here.

[Highlight] For 'reservations' read 'legal violations' – new Sakhalin II photo report

(October 12, 2007)

Sakhalin Environment Watch (SEW)

Ian Craig, chief executive of Sakhalin Energy Investment, commented this week on a new report into the Sakhalin II project, stating, "The key for me in this report is that it notes the high level of compliance with the requirements in the area of health, safety, environment and social that was achieved." The report was produced by AEA Technology, an international consulting firm, for potential lenders to the project: the UK’s ECGD, JBIC and the US Ex-Im Bank.

The company is hyping the AEA report as providing the project with a clean bill of health, although it is acknowledged that it contains some ‘reservations’ about the project. The latest photo report from Sakhalin Environment Watch, based on pipeline monitoring in September, presents more gory findings of locations where the integrity of the pipelines is threatened and Sakhalin’s rivers are being clogged up. The photo report shows alarming cases where legal directives intended to ensure pipeline safety have been ignored for up to a year by the company. We say unreservedly to the company and the potential lenders – these are legal violations, and how many more are out there?

[Highlight] Stuttering progress on sealing the EU funds deals

(October 5, 2007)

CEE Bankwatch Network

The European Parliament’s recent adoption of the road map for renewable energy in Europe was announced last week, with significant empahsis placed on the role of structural and cohesion funds in encouraging new member states to invest in renewables. Unfortunately these kind of sentiments are coming far too late in the day. As Bankwatch analysis has warned, energy efficiency and renewable energy were each allocated in the draft funding plans of the new member states only 1 percent of the 177 billion euros of EU funds earmarked for investment in the 2007-2013 period.

This is in flat contradiction with the EU’s own climate change and cohesion policy priorities. Final negotiations on the plans have been taking place between the states and the European Commission, with finalised agreements already reached in several countries including Hungary, Lithuania, Romania and Slovenia.

[Highlight] Resistance to the Balkan pipeline carve up is growing

(October 2, 2007)

Bankwatch staff members have just returned from an invigorating and productive meeting with environmental and human rights groups from 14 countries aimed at developing responses to the rash of oil pipeline projects being proposed in South East Europe to bring Russian and Caspian oil to Europe and the US.

The meeting organised by Croatian NGOs including Zagreb office of the Heinrich Böll Foundation, Human Rights Center and Eko Kvarner took place in Sisak, the most polluted town in Croatia, thanks in no small way to a local unrefurbished oil refinery and a crude oil fuelled thermo power plant. Experienced and new campaigners were joined by legal and marine experts, and the meeting resulted in the establishment of an informal network and concrete plans for strengthening current campaigns on pipeline projects. Bankwatch outlined the potential involvement of the IFIs in these projects and, based on our experience of the problems in previous such projects financed by the banks, showed that the IFIs’ safeguard standards are no match for the social and environmental dangers of oil pipelines and related infrastructure. Read the declaration here.

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[Highlight] Sliding slowly, expensively and still uncertainly to a Chernobyl safety solution

(September 25, 2007)

CEE Bankwatch Network, National Ecological Centre of Ukraine (NECU)

Last week saw the long-awaited finalisation of massive new safety measures for implementation on the disaster zone of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine. A new shelter, at 18000 tons weighing more than twice the Eiffel Tower, will seal off the plant’s damaged unit 4 and Holtec International will oversee the completion of spent nuclear fuel storage facilities. A new shelter and fuel storage facilities were supposed to have been completed by now, more than twenty one years after the explosion. Work on the sliding shelter is expected to take four years, at an estimated cost of USD 1.39 billion.

[Highlight] Appeal to the government of Poland concerning Rospuda Valley

(July 30, 2007)

CEE Bankwatch Network, Ogólnopolskie Towarzystwo Ochrony Ptaków, WWF Poland, Greenpeace Poland

On behalf of all non-governmental organisations committed to the protection of Rospuda Valley, we appeal once again to the Polish authorities, in particular to the government, to postpone all planned construction work within the Natura 2000 site after August 1, when the breeding season ends.

When it became a member of the European Union, Poland took on the obligation of following European law. As it has been designed by the authorities, the present routing of the Augustow bypass has been questioned by the European Commission. A final judgment on this case will be given by the European Court of Justice (ECJ).

[Highlight] More contempt for EU law from Polish government, but groups still confident of Rospuda victory

(July 18, 2007)

CEE Bankwatch Network

Following this week's statement from the Polish authorities that work will start on construction of the Augustow Bypass through the protected Rospuda river valley on August 1, the environmental organisations Birdlife International, Bankwatch, OTOP and WWF Poland have written to European Commissioner for the Environment Stavros Dimas urging him to initiate an application to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for immediate 'interim measures' to halt construction.

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