CEE

Energy is the watchword of the day, as we keep increasing the need for it, no matter the costs, apparently. Well, the costs do matter but they are distorted by subsidies old and new, for fossil fuels and for renewable energy sources, while the global business world is made to feel increasingly insecure by the price of carbon emissions.

In 2009 the EBRD established the EUR 50 million facility to support the development of small-scale projects in all renewable energy generation sectors, including hydro, wind, biomass and solar power. While the initiative is welcomed and timely, the first projects to be developed were not transparent practices in the project development, jeopardising the whole notion of renewable energy as sustainable and socially-acceptable.

Our input expresses our main concern relating to the need to develop an energy sector in southeast and eastern Europe that is in line with EU environmental and climate policies and legislation, as well as one which addresses the increasing problem of energy poverty through sparing and efficient energy use. We underline the need for the PECIs projects to be in line with current and forthcoming EU legislation and policies on climate, environment, renewable energy and energy efficiency.

The Implementation Committee under the Espoo Convention concluded in March 2013 that the extension of the life-times of two nuclear reactor units at the Rivne NPP are a case of non-compliance with Ukraine's international obligations. The two units are part of a, EBRD financed project and got their life-time extensions in 2010 without preparing an environmental impact assessment (EIA) and with no information provided to potentially affected neighbouring states.

With each passing day, there is less chance that we will manage to keep the planet within the "safe" limit of two degrees Celsius global warming that would avoid disastrous climate change. The European Investment Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development can play a pivotal role in leveraging more private investment for sustainable energy. Both institutions are now reviewing their energy lending policies.