Blogs

With one more positive court decision just before the end of the year, Bankwatch Romania had a lot to celebrate in 2015.

Following Bankwatch’s revelations about toxic pollutants at the Tsumeb smelter in Namibia, the smelter’s owner, Canadian mining company Dundee Precious Metals (DPM), contested our findings in Namibian news reports. Without substantiating its claims with facts, however, and in light of the results of local health surveys the company’s reassurances ring hollow and meaningless.

The European Investment Bank's track record stands in stark contrast to its pose as a hero in the fight against climate change.

On 20 November 2015, following the presentation of the first State of the Energy Union, Vice-President Šefčovič hosted a Twitter Chat. Also several Bankwatchers joined the discussion. Here are some points we found noteworthy.

The critically endangered population of the Balkan lynx (Lynx lynx balcanicus) may be getting a new lease on life this week after being threatened by planned hydropower constructions in its core area of reproduction.

The case of the Tsumeb smelter in Namibia demonstrates how European pollution is exported to the Global South with indirect help of public development money.

A closer look at the projects that the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development has financed in the energy sector in Middle East and North African countries reveals that, despite the bank's rhetoric about promoting sustainable energy, its balance sheet has fossil fuels all over it.

It’s no secret that Poland is not the biggest proponent of ambitious European climate and energy policies. Rather than give Poland the extra nudge it needs to transform its increasingly obsolete energy system, the Energy Union risks sustaining – and legitimising – the Polish addiction to fossil fuels.

Nuclear safety activists in Ukraine who face defamation charges by the state nuclear operator Energoatom received support from Rebecca Harms, a member of the European Parliament, recently.

In the wake of last month’s Volkswagen (VW) emissions scandal, a Politico story, based on a Bankwatch analysis, revealed that the car manufacturer enjoyed generous public financial support from the European Investment Bank (EIB). But the full picture is even more disturbing.