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Images and graphs: Large-scale agribusiness in Ukraine and local communities

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Ukraine's agriculture was the only sector in the country to grow in 2014. International investors like the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development are happy to point this out - and the role they are playing in financing these investments.

But an investigation published today into one of the main beneficiaries of loans from the EBRD and other multilateral development banks shows that cheap Ukrainian food products are coming at the expense of severe impacts on local communities.

Tags: agribusiness  agriculture  agroholding  local impacts  manure  MHP  CEE  EU neighbourhood 

Institution: EBRD, EIB, World Bank Group

Theme: Social & economic impacts, Development

Rural communities in Ukraine bearing the brunt of unchecked agribusiness expansion, say two new reports

September 14, 2015

Residents in Ukraine's southwest are facing environmental decline, intimidation and deteriorating quality of life as a result of the rapid emergence of Europe's largest poultry farm, finds a report released today by CEE Bankwatch Network. Owned by Mironivski Hliboproduct (MHP), Ukraine's biggest poultry producer, the Vinnytsia project has been enjoying hefty support from Europe's public financial institutes and the World Bank, and plans to double the facility's size are only likely to exacerbate its social and environmental impacts, shows another report released today by the Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations (SOMO).

Institution: EBRD, EIB, World Bank Group

Theme: Social & economic impacts, Development

Tags: agribusiness, agriculture, CEE, EU neighbourhood

Black earth - Agribusiness in Ukraine and the marginalisation of rural communities

Study   |   September 14, 2015

Given Ukraine's abundant land resources and food production potential, modernisation of agriculture is necessary and industrialisation is inevitable. Yet, an investigation into the Vinnytsia poultry complex shows the negative side effects of large-scale industrialisation of meat production and sounds the alarm about the risks that agroholdings pose to communities.

Institution: EBRD, EIB, World Bank Group

Theme: Social & economic impacts, Development

Nederland sponsort Oekraïense plofkip

September 14, 2015

Source: unknown author, duurzaamnieuws

De grootste kippenproducent in Oekraïne, Myronivsky Hliboproduct (MHP), slacht jaarlijks naar schatting 332 miljoen kippen en staat op het punt de productie met 70% te verhogen. MHP krijgt daarbij ruim baan van de Oekraïense overheid, exporteert tegen gunstige voorwaarden naar Nederland en profiteert bovendien van een half miljard aan leningen van internationale ontwikkelingsbanken. Bij de schaalvergroting spelen ook Nederlandse banken en bedrijven een rol. Intussen ondervinden de bewoners in de omgeving van Europa’s grootste kippenstal steeds meer overlast van stank en zwaar verkeer en worden zij onder druk gezet om hun land te verpachten. Met het rapport Chicken Run heeft SOMO de bedrijfsstrategieën van MHP en de daaruit voortvloeiende impact op omliggende dorpen in kaart gebracht.

Institution: EBRD, EIB, World Bank Group

Theme: Social & economic impacts, Development

Tags: agribusiness, CEE, EU neighbourhood

[Campaign update] Petition to clean up southeast Europe's energy system

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By now regular readers of the Bankwatch blog will know that the energy system in southeast Europe is corrupt, dirty and inefficient. But we now have an opportunity to change it.

Tags: coal  Energy Community  petition  EU neighbourhood 

Theme: Energy & climate, Resource efficiency

Energoatom lawsuit against Ukrainian activists is the latest attempt to stifle public debate over an ageing nuclear energy fleet

August 28, 2015

A Kiev court held yesterday the first hearing in a case brought by Energoatom, Ukraine’s state-owned nuclear power plants operator, against the National Ecological Centre of Ukraine (NECU), a civil society group, member of the CEE Bankwatch Network.

Institution: EBRD

Theme: Energy & climate

Tags: Energoatom, Espoo, lawsuit, lifetime extensions, NECU, nuclear, Ukraine, CEE, EU neighbourhood

The Western Balkans and the Energy Union: Will the EU address carbon lock-in beyond its borders?

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The Energy Union must find ways to prevent state support for the production of fossil fuel energy by the European Union’s immediate neighbours. The EU cannot afford to have newly acceding members holding up progress towards the new 2030 climate goals or watering down future policy making.

Tags: coal  Energy Community  Energy Union  Maroš Šefčovič  state aid  stranded assets  Balkans  EU neighbourhood 

Theme: Energy & climate

Southern Gas Corridor / Euro-Caspian Mega Pipeline


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The Southern Gas Corridor, a system of mega-pipelines meant to bring gas from the Caspian region to Europe, is unnecessary in light of gas demand projections in the European Union's 2050 Energy Strategy. Neither will the project make European countries independent from Russian gas. At the same time, the USD 45 billion investments will boost Azerbaijan's dictatorial regime and cause damage to local communities and the environment in transit countries like Turkey and Italy.

Institution: EBRD, EIB, Commercial banks, ADB

Theme: Energy & climate, Social & economic impacts

Ukraine nuclear lifetime extensions require impact assessment in compliance with Aarhus and Espoo convention

Advocacy letter   |   August 18, 2015

On several occasions the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development stated that operations of its clients should comply with all international treaties and other legal obligations. In spite of these reassurances, Energoatom in Ukraine keeps ignoring its international obligations, as outlined in the Espoo Convention, in the processes of assessing the life-time extension of its nuclear reactors.

Institution: EBRD

Theme: Energy & climate

Letter to European Commission: Reconsider disbursement of loans for Ukraine nuclear project

Advocacy letter   |   August 10, 2015

In this letter, Bankwatch asks the European Commission to reconsider the disbursement of the Euratom and EBRD loans for the Ukraine nuclear safety upgrade programme that effectively enables the lifetime extensions at Ukraine's nuclear reactors. The letter provides evidence for the intertwined character of the upgrade programme and the lifetime extensions and for Ukraine's refusal to meet its obligations under international conventions.

Institution: EBRD

Theme: Energy & climate

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