Caucasus

Last weekend, the Georgian Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources again left no doubt about where its main interests lie: enforcing the massive exploitation of Georgia’s hydropower potential despite and against people’s concerns and if necessary by use of force.

Georgian public opinion backs the village of Kaishi in the Georgian mountains that defiantly defends its land and tradition against the planned Khudoni dam. The project promoters have now embarked on an all-out promotion campaign including a fake non-governmental organisation.

As activists pointed out at a consultation meeting in Tbilisi, Georgia's hydropower sector has plenty of lessons to be learned by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

The growing antagonism between promoters of the Khudoni hydropower plant project in Georgia and their local opponents from Kaishi is unlikely to ease when the investor and the Georgian Ministry of Energy boycott mediation by Georgia’s Ombudsman.

At a closer look the EBRD's new energy strategy, complimented for the restrictions it places on coal lending, reveals a shocking lack of operational knowledge to implement the ambitions outlined in its executive summary.

Is the EBRD deliberately dragging its feet on publishing investigation reports on large hydropower plants in Georgia, Macedonia and Croatia?

As the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development revises its safeguard policies, the Aid Transparency Index ranks its commitment to openness and transparency as the weakest in comparison with similar institutions.