EBRD blogs

Signing the Paris Agreement is an important step in Europe's contribution to the global effort to tackle the climate crisis.

But funding this commitment necessarily passes through the public coffers. To kick-start the much-needed energy transition– by swiftly cutting emissions to reach the global carbon neutrality the Paris Agreement prescribes for the second half of this century –a change of paradigm in public investments in energy infrastructure is needed.

As the 2016 Aid Transparency Review shows some improvement for the two main European lenders, they are still far from reaching satisfying transparency standards.

The Zagreb wastewater plant public-private partnership (PPP), financed by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), has for years been highlighted by Bankwatch and its member group Zelena akcija/Friends of the Earth Croatia as a harmful project allowing the private sector enormous profits at the expense of the City of Zagreb and the public.

The mistrust and frustration of communities in the mountains of north-western Georgia is deepening over make-shift consultations on large dam constructions.