Central Asia

Contemplating secure and insecure energy supply

The EU external energy policy Communication published today by the European Commission continues the decade-long approach of the EU to ensure the unhindered flow of fossil fuel energy supplies to Europe without a real recognition of the problems this drive creates both inside and outside of the EU.

Tags: energy energy security European Commission extractive industries fossil fuels human rights local benefits policy transparency Central Asia EU neighbourhood Global South

Institution: EBRD, EIB

Theme: Energy & climate, Social & economic impacts

Comments on the draft EBRD country strategy for the Kyrgyz Republic

Policy comments | August 5, 2011

As the Kyrgyz Republic is an Early Transition Country with limited capacity for additional external borrowing and in light of recent political events in the country, Bankwatch emphasizes that the EBRD must carefully weigh and analyse any project it considers for financing in this particularly vulnerable country.

Institution: EBRD

Kumtor Gold Mine, Kyrgyzstan

The Kumtor open pit gold mine is located in a majestic surrounding in the Kyrgyzstan mountains. It receives continued support by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, despite several accidents in the past and ongoing environmental damages from the mining operations.

Institution: EBRD, World Bank Group

Theme: Social & economic impacts, Other harmful projects, Mining

Bankwatch co-production on Kyrgyz gold mine wins at DOK Leipzig while EBRD sights financing for company featured in the film

During last weeks internationally-renowned 53rd Leipzig Festival for Documentary and Animated Film, DOK Leipzig, Bankwatch's most recent co-production about the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD)-financed Kumtor gold mine in Kyrgyzstan All that Glitters collected two awards: the Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk award for an excellent Eastern European documentary film and the Healthy Workplaces Film Award for the best documentary film about the subject of work.

Tags: accountability extractive industries local benefits mining success Central Asia

Institution: EBRD

Theme: Other harmful projects, Mining

Transparency allergy reappears at EIB, crisis billions still cloaked in confidentiality

February 4, 2010

CEE Bankwatch Network today criticised the European Investment Bank (EIB) for adopting a new transparency policy that persists in keeping the final destination of billions of publicly backed money unknown to the public.

Institution: EIB

Tags: policy, transparency, Balkans, Central Asia, EU, Global South

Dead workers, stinking pollution and forced evictions: New report highlights ArcelorMittal's global trail of destruction

May 13, 2008

A newly-formed coalition of environmental and community groups [1] - Global Action on ArcelorMittal - today released a report showing how local residents and workers around the world pay the price of ArcelorMittal's success.

Institution: EBRD

Theme: Other harmful projects, Mining

Tags: CEE, Central Asia, Global South

Is the EIB cooling climate change or fueling it? New report sceptical about EU bank's investments in renewables

June 2, 2005

With the European Commission sponsored Green Week underway in Brussels, a new study has found that the European Investment Bank's commitment to investing in renewable energy is in serious doubt owing to the EIB's opaque information procedures and its definition of renewable energy projects.

Institution: EIB

Theme: Energy & climate

Tags: Balkans, Caucasus, Central Asia, EU, Global South