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Zagreb Mayor arrested - and not before time
October 20, 2014
 | by Pippa Gallop

Something quite amazing happened yesterday evening in Zagreb. The Croatian police and the State Prosecutor announced that several people had been arrested on suspicion of a number of criminal corruption offences, abuse of office and peddling influence. Among the arrested were Zagreb Mayor Milan Bandic, Head of Zagreb Holding municipal company Slobodan Ljubicic, the head of the ZET public transport company Ivan Tolic, head and part-owner of the CIOS metal recycling company Petar Pripuza and around 15 more un-named people.

corruption, mayor, Milan Bandic, PPP, wastewater, Zagreb
EBRD, EIB
Social & economic impacts
[Campaign update] Rovinari power plant put on ice
October 15, 2014
 | by Ionut Brigle

A silver lining has appeared for the people of Rovinari with the set-up of a joint venture for a new lignite-fired power plant being put on hold. The town of Rovinari already suffers under heavy pollution from the existing plant.

China Huadian Engineering, coal, economics, feasibility, Oltenia Energy Complex, pollution, Rovinari
Chinese investors
Energy & climate, Social & economic impacts
Another David vs. Goliath fight in Poland over road construction in Natura 2000 site
October 7, 2014
 | by Julia Krzyszkowska

Road construction in Poland can be a cause for great controversy in Poland not least when incomprehensible roads designs clash with nature.

biodiversity, Natura2000, roads, success, transport
Transport
Flood impacts kept secret by hydropower plant constructor in Georgia
October 6, 2014
 | by David Chipashvili

Georgian Urban Energy (GUE), the company in charge of constructing the Paravani hydropower plant (HPP), has been keeping secret a study on the potential flooding risks associated with the facility, despite requests and promises from the EBRD that such an analysis would be made public.

accountability, Georgian Urban Energy, hydropower, local communities, local impacts, Paravani, participation, risks, transparency
EBRD
Social & economic impacts
On Evgeny Vitishko, multilateral development banks and the criminalisation of public criticism
September 26, 2014
 | by Klara Sikorova

The recent rejection to release Evgeny Vitishko's, an imprisoned environmental activist in Russia, illustrates the backlash against fundamental rights and freedoms in some countries. Multilateral development banks need to take notice of this trend and be more wary of the risk that their lending may strengthen authoritarian regimes.

civil society, democracy, Environmental Watch on North Caucasus, Evgeny Vitishko, freedom, human rights, reprression, Russia, Sochi, transition
EBRD, EIB, World Bank Group
Social & economic impacts
Will Ukrainian coal hijack today's Energy Community meeting?
September 23, 2014
 | by Ioana Ciuta

Currently presiding over the EU-backed Energy Community's Minsterial Council, Ukraine will likely try to dilute environmental regulations in the Treaty. But the country's ageing coal-fired power plants are troubled by inefficiency and pollution and in dire need of environmental improvements.

Burshtyn, coal, derogations, Dobrotvir, energy, Energy Community, energy exports, environmental aquis, inefficiency, pollution, Ukraine
Energy & climate
Zagreb residents protest incinerator plans ahead of new waste management plan approval
September 22, 2014
 | by Pippa Gallop

I had a strong sense of deja-vu today. On 31 March 2008, residents of the Zagreb suburb of Resnik held a protest against plans for a 385 000 tonnes per year waste incinerator which was to be built nearby. It was a sunny day and the majority of Resnik's residents came along to show their opposition to yet another industrial facility being built in their neighbourhood and to push for a waste management system built on waste prevention and recycling.

incineration, protest, recycling, Resnik, waste, Zagreb
Resource efficiency
Cross-border coal pollution for the first time under scrutiny by UN body
September 22, 2014
 | by Ioana Ciuta

A new unit at the Kostolac coal-fired power plant in Serbia is the first coal project to be considered by the Espoo Convention Implementation Committee for transboundary impacts.

Chinese investors, CMEC, coal, consultation, Espoo Convention, health, Kostolac, pollution, Serbia, success
Energy & climate
Serbian energy sector needs overhaul
September 10, 2014
 | by Sven Haertig-Tokarz

The news portal Deutsche Welle has visited the Kolubara lignite mine in Serbia and produced a short clip about the difficulties faced by the Serbian energy sector.

Our Serbian colleague Nikola Perusic speaks in the video about the terrible landslide that happened in May 2013.

Deutsche Welle, energy, floods, Kolubara, landslide, lignite, Serbia, video
EBRD
Energy & climate, Social & economic impacts
Corporate interest on way to win over the EU bank's transparency policy
September 10, 2014
 | by Xavier Sol

In the draft version of its new transparency policy the European Investment Bank is making access to information on its tens of billion euros lending harder than ever.

accountability, corporate interests, EIB, European Investment Bank, policy, secrecy, transparency
EIB

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