Bankwatch Mail
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[Newsletter] Bankwatch Mail 38
(December 1, 2008)
A fossil free EIB requires political will * South east Europe's leaders to cling to carbon during COP 14 * Counting down to Copenhagen – counting on public money to do more for climate-friendly investments * No more excuses for IFI heel-dragging on renewables in emerging markets * EBRD carbon factor: Readers decide * Many cooks stirring Albania's carbon soup * Looking beyond nuke bickering in the Baltics * EU-Ukraine energy cooperation needs a rethink * World Bank is accomplishing mission impossible in CEE, says the Bank * PPP's perils and pitfalls make it no panacea – new Bankwatch report
[Newsletter] Bankwatch Mail 37
(June 2, 2008)
EU billions must help to reduce waste, not boost it * European Investment Bank urged to stop fueling the incineration fire * Zero waste, zero pain * The EIB undermines Africa * Strange bedfellows: the EIB’s huge fossil fuels portfolio is smothering clean energy initiatives * A deluge of public subsidies for Ethiopian dam projects, but public benefits missing * Public consultation on EIB environmental policy at last, but problems persist * Czech roads paved with whose gold exactly?
[Newsletter] Bankwatch Mail 36
(May 16, 2008)
Why is the EBRD tacitly backing Ukraine's nuke-centric, inefficient energy plans? * Football and PPPs do not mix * Renewables continue to get a rough ride in Georgia * Other transitions are out there – but not as the EBRD knows it * Wake up and smell ArcelorMittal - global case studies reveal who picks up the tab for steel giant * PIP squeaks again: no end in sight to info disclosure constipation at the EBRD
[Newsletter] Bankwatch Mail 35
(April 28, 2008)
Bottom line additionality in Kazakhstan as more miners die * Campaign successes amidst the Black Weeks * New map of projects points the way to environmental and social justice in CEE * Feeding the Asian Tigers: Lack of environmental teeth in ADB’s energy strategy * Counter Balance: Challenging the European Investment Bank * European Parliament looks for more added value from the EIB * Energy Matters: new Bankwatch report and film explore big industry developments in Albania * Going nuclear: the EIB's waiting game continues * EBRD crackdown on “open markets” in Ukraine * They’ll pave paradise and put up...a high-speed road
[Newsletter] Bankwatch Mail 34
(December 17, 2007)
The more things change… * … the more they stay the same * Backing a loser: PPP never never land comes to CEE * Albania at the crossroads – how the IFIs could be doing so much more * Outbreak of winter silly season commentary on the EBRD * Recent Bankwatch publications
[Newsletter] Bankwatch Mail 33
(June 4, 2007)
Too much carbon in EU funding – Commission rubber stamps 30 percent rise in Polish GHGs * EIB approves Bujagali Dam in Uganda despite major flaws * Environmental and social safeguards – time to get serious at the EIB *
Poland facing trial in European Court of Justice over Via Baltica
* Dos and donts - how the EIB can avoid development pitfalls
* When is corruption not corruption? Ask the EIB
* The memory hole
[Newsletter] Bankwatch Mail 32
(May 18, 2007)
The need for diversification in the Russian economy: a role for the EBRD? * Sakhalin II problems persist despite ownership fight * EBRD tries to shrug off devastating Kashagan oilfield impacts * Aarhus Convention ignored by IFIs in Albania * Squeezing the poor: the EBRD’s role in privatisation in Montenegro * More EBRD money to fund more Mittal tragedy in Kazakhstan?
[Newsletter] Bankwatch Mail 31
(April 18, 2007)
Planes, loans and automobiles * Kyrgyzstan’s government rejected HIPC shackles thanks to public pressure * Editorial: Double standards for how much longer? * The nuclear white elephant in Bulgaria’s room * Rospuda interview – EU law in the driving seat * First PPP motorway in Russia to cause problems for thousands of people * Your voice in Europe: support the Green paper on urban transport
[Newsletter] Bankwatch Mail 30
(October 31, 2006)
Race against time to salvage EU funding for sustainable energy in the new member states *
Bulgaria’s nuclear dowry
* Customer complaints hit EIB shopping centre loan in Hungary
* Hot air could become hotter in Ukraine
* EBRD Environmental Policy Review is rolling
* Short cuts over houses required for more growth in Slovakia
* Toxic dump in a marine reserve?
* World Bank Group’s renewable energy numbers exposed
* NGO energy report
* EBRD pigs to fly again?
* New Bankwatch guide helps bring Brussels closer to EU citizens
* Can the Kaczynski brothers afford to duck the Via Baltica issue?
* Local resistance sees off south Bohemian incinerator
[Newsletter] Bankwatch Mail 29
(May 30, 2006)
Cohesion or Collision? EU funding and biodiversity * Shell's Sakhalin project no friend of people or nature * People's right to know not fully reflected in EIB's new plans to show * Will the neighbouring countries' biodiversity be bulldozed by TEN-T extension? * EIB 1996-2006; Evolution of an invisible giant * New Citizen's Guide for better use of internationally recognised complaint mechanisms * Saaremaa bridge- a crazy Estonian dream * EU waste strategy and public funds must not go up in smoke
[Newsletter] Bankwatch Mail 28
(May 21, 2006)
Forging the future, without faking it * Prostitution, trafficking, and STDs on the rise in EBRD oil projects * The EBRD's PIP show * Azerbaijan's oil boom showing troubling signs * Georgia's economic situation less than rosy * New energy targets don't tell the whole story * EBRD's kiss and tell reinvents transition * The memory hole * New Zagreb waste strategy fails to justify incineration
[Newsletter] Bankwatch Mail 27
(March 3, 2006)
Sakhalin fishermen’s struggle for justice * Can the EIB deliver on development? * The memory hole * Scraping the bottom of the end-of-pipe barrel * Social issues SOS from EBRD Environmental Department * Time to wake up from South-East Europe’s pipeline dreams * Nukes and cronies in the Balkans * Two or three Americans: Wolfowitz and his Republican appointees * World Bank helping to tarnish jewels of Polish nature * EIB in the South. In whose interest? * We will not be moved * EU funds in central and eastern Europe: cohesion or collision?
[Newsletter] Bankwatch Mail 26: World Bank monothematic issue
(September 20, 2005)
Key IFC review threatens Wolfowitz's noble mission * Czech Republic's carbon cowboys exposed
* World Bank rubs salt into Uzbek wounds
* Why Serbian pensioners are calling World Bank reforms ?genocidal'
* The Memory Hole
* Canadian mining company discovering more than it bargained for in south-east Bulgaria
* EIR still not getting through in Russia or in Washington
[Newsletter] Bankwatch Mail 25: EIB monothematic issue
(June 15, 2005)
* EIB’s proposed revision to Information Policy – a step backwards
*The EIB in developing countries – a blessing or a curse?
* Large dams, big trouble
* Positives undermined: the EIB’s lending for renewable energies
* Taxpayers’ money drowned with EIB assistance
* Bratislava’s bridge of sighs – EIB content to wipe its hands clean
* The Memory Hole
* Hunt on for new Communications and Information Director at EIB
* EIB reform posters heading to Brussels and Luxembourg
[Newsletter] Bankwatch Mail 24: EBRD monothematic issue
(May 15, 2005)
* EBRD coughs up for labour rights abuser
* Winds of change at the EBRD?
* Energy cross roads - it´s make up your mind time for the EBRD
* Are the IFIs responsible for the Tulip Revolution?
* Sustainable transport: DELAYS AHEAD
* Baku Ceyhan documentary wins audience prize at international human rights film festival
* Rosia Montana campaigner wins 2005 ?Environmental Nobel’
* Clean energy bankable home and away
[Newsletter] Bankwatch Mail 23
(February 24, 2005)
* Sakhalin II hots up
* EBRD: It´s time to combat climate change
* Extracting benefits: moving beyond voluntary revenue transparency
* EU funds: Quantity and quality must go together
* Kresna victory: Sofia rapped over Bern Convention breaches
* New Bulgarian coalition formed to optimise Structural funds for 2007-2013
* DOE-no! Another pointless mega-project
* EBRD transport policy: How the transition countries can escape the “transit” ghetto
* It´s a funny old game!
* Banca Intesa pulls out of BTC
* The Memory Hole
[Newsletter] Bankwatch Mail 22: World Bank monothematic issue
(September 7, 2004)
* Troubling trends in the IFC’s Social and Environmental Safeguards review
* Oil & development: The World Bank's test case in Africa
* If there's mess around your house, don't blame the dustman … talk to his managers
* Back To Controversy
* The carbon spin doctors: How the World Bank explains emissions trading to journalists
* Need some ERUs? Ask the World Bank's PCF how to get more
* New Bankwatch publications
[Newsletter] Bankwatch Mail 21: EIB monothematic issue
(June 7, 2004)
* Public Funds for Public Benefit – new NGO campaign launched
* Mónica Ridruejo uncensored
* EIB outside Europe but not out of sight
* The IFC’s “no” to controversial Slovak paper mill followed by the EIB’s “yes”
* Is thinking big the way to Stability?
* BTC campaigner persecuted in Turkey
* EIR for all – including the EIB
* Dubious gains: the EIB’s involvement in the Slovak rail system
* Access denied: the EIB’s mythical Information Policy
[Newsletter] Bankwatch Mail 20: EBRD monothematic issue
(April 7, 2004)
Energy but not for Sakhalin * EBRD takes action on Uzbek human rights* EBRD must make “publish what you pay” stick * K2R4: the never-ending story * The EBRD and Smithfield Foods: Polish pig farmers stuck in the middle * Filling the EBRD’s natural resources and energy policies void * European Parliament boosts the MDBs renewables debate * The green alternative for Georgia: an interview with Manana Kochladze
[Newsletter] Bankwatch Mail 19: EIR monothematic issue
(March 7, 2004)
EIR: some unfinished business * Is this an independent, far-reaching review I see before me? The World Bank’s EIR stage fright * Renewables 2004 – will the banks engage or switch off? * Romania’s mining woes continue * World Bank barking up the wrong tree in Georgia * EBRD returns to Sakhalin * EIB gets away with it - again * Key independent EIR recommendations to the WBG
CEE Bankwatch Network gratefully acknowledges EU funding support.